Halo: The Return of the Hero
by Accendrix
Summary: (Rewrite of my original fanfic) The Master Chief and his AI companion Cortana have been transported to a new adventure, where two alien species viciously war with each other, victory coming once the opposition is extinct. Meanwhile, the UNSC and the The Arbiter make contact at a Forerunner shield world, monitored by a Forerunner with a mysterious past.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Next to nothing

…

It was the same thing everyday, well since space really didn't have a day/night cycle it was the same thing every instance. She'd wake up, wander through the magnificent tunnels of blue networking and passages of coding only to come back out in front of the Chief. The spartan would still be in his cryostasis pod, trapped in frosty serenity. She'd sigh, begin to meditate…and _think_.

"Chief, will we ever get out of the _Dawn_?" She quietly thought to herself. Arising, she hovered herself back to the console where her precious AI chip was in and set an azure foot down, just as a wave of energy surged through the remnants of the mangled frigate and started to drive whatever technology that was still working on the fritz.

The station Cortana was in began to be corrupted by something, a short-circuit resulting from the wash of bright-yellow electricity. The piled up snow and frost build-up dispersed as the cryobay began to break apart, ripping itself to shreds as it collapsed on itself. The energy worked through the system and literally ejected Cortana's AI chip out, with her still in it. The chip shot out of the console and floated around in the air. Electric surges began to ripple through the Chief's cryo-pod, and the frosted over door flung open. The Chief himself awoke rather rudely, and he flew out of the pod to observe the hectic event unfolding before his slightly groggy state.

"Cortana?!" he yelled, his hands shielding his eyes from a bright flash of light which caused something next to him to shatter. Cortana couldn't answer him, she was still in her chip in the air. The Chief saw it and reached for it, only to be blown away by an explosion, spiraling through the air and smacking into the wall. The Chief grabbed his assault rifle from next to him, and he jumped off some debris towards her AI chip, the circle of vibrant light in the chip constantly flashing.

"I'm coming!" The Chief confidently announced. The Chief grabbed the chip, stuck it into his helmet, and he reached out to a solid pipe sticking out of the wall of the ship to halt his movement.

"Chief!" the flustered AI spoke.

"I'm here, what's the situation?"

"Wow! I thought I was a goner…um- the _Dawn_ seems to be getting assaulted by what I deduct as an electromagnetic pulse device, it's hutting everything down including life-support and artificial gravity." As she finished, a multitude of explosions caused The Chief to float up into the air, his gloved hand gripped onto the pipe tighter.

Bright green and malicious red energy bolts whizzed into the _Dawn_, resulting with the ship's infrastructure to melt and explode. From the other side came volleys of violet, flashing bolts which smashed into the _Dawn _and caused The Chief to lose his hold, forcing his body to fly through the ruined hallway. He stopped himself by planting his feet onto the ceiling and grabbing a damaged brace, making his way to use it as cover.

"Chief, unidentified fire coming from both sides of the _Dawn_! I think it's just stray energy bolts, but I have no possible idea who it can be." Cortana informed the spartan. She sounded worried, and The Chief was beginning to feel fear himself.

"Can you find a better vantage poi-?" The Chief wanted to ask, but an endless volley of energy bolts smashed into the remains of the _Forward Unto Dawn_ and sent it slowly spinning at an enormous contoured Flagship, about the size of an UNSC cruiser.

On the flagship's hull were solid black stripes and blue alien gylphs on its massive bow, it's grills of it's engines glowing bright red. The _Dawn _tore it's way past the gray-blue ships' shielding and implanted itself onto the starboard side, near the end of the egg-shaped bow where the hull pressed inwards and became straighter. Plates ran diagonally down the side of the ship, looking like scales as the pattern continued only to end at the massive upside-down trapazoid-shaped engine area. The flickering of the flagship's shields could be seen, and the field of protection ultimately collapsed. The bridge of the ship was an area on the top of the ship's abdomen area, a spherical area with an all-around view and technological communication and surveillance equipment attached to it's roof.

Cortana seemed to shout a warning to the Chief, who only shut his eyes from behind his visor as the _Dawn _finished its final spin and smashed into the flagship. Beside this flagship were smaller and equally gray-blue frigates, destroyers, and cruisers all sharing a similar yet less extravagant design to their flagship. They had begun to frantically move away from the path of the _Dawn _and succeeded, only to regroup in horror as they witnessed the crippling of their flagship's shields due to this massive blow. The opposition, very sword-like and star-shaped spacecraft of black design and bright-green lighting, took this opportunity to expell barrages of firepower at their enemy. The massive flagship of the black ships was a huge broad-sword shaped craft, the under-side of the larger craft slanting to form a triangular prism shape. A stair-case like area on top of the flat hull was the bridge, with it's curved window allowing the crewmen to look out. Strange green symbols of alien language were painted on the slanted sides of the hull, and there were streams of green running in a shifting path alongside the flat top, like pulsing veins.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: I come in peace

…

Opening his eyes after the rough ride, The Chief found himself onto the floor.

"You alright spartan?" Cortana asked, sighing in relief to know that he was still conscious.

"Yeah, I'm alright." The Chief responded. He put a hand to the wall to steady himself, the ride wasn't as bad as he thought it'd be. Of course, he did have power armor.

"I'm trying to make sense of the situation. Right now, I think you should get off the _Dawn _and make your way into the ship we're…well IN. Whoever this belongs to, it's obvious they have space-faring capabilities and are most likely intelligent. It looked like we had somehow entered a…naval battle?" Cortana remarked.

The Chief discovered that he was on a platform formed by the destruction of the ship. This area was mostly formed by the debris from the _Dawn _yet there was some inner parts of this flagship which has fused with the _Dawn_. Sparking cables hung out from the ceiling, wall plates were ripped apart or destroyed to reveal the insides, the hallway had burn holes and scars all over it's metal floor and the dark insides of the _Dawn _were only seen by The Chief's helmet-flashlight. Seeing his assault rifle stuck in between some debris, he pried it loose and put it on his back. His armor was a drab olive color, looking aged yet strong, just like Sierra-117 himself. He jumped off the platform and walked the length of the _Dawn _to reach the destroyed opening to the inside of the flagship. It was a jagged hole in the ceiling caused by a large beam smashing through the weak infrastructure and puncturing the ceiling.

Cortana popped up in a small box on the upper left-hand corner of his visor. Her face didn't look that happy. She showed signs of stress and panic, an The Chief noticed this. He looked down to the hole and turned his flashlight off, glad to know that there was lighting in the level below him.

"I'm activating your motion sensor now Chief…not good." she told him.

The small circle popped up with a light noise and blue contacts appeared everywhere. Suddenly the floor under him collapsed and he fell to the light-orange floor of the level below him. After getting on his hands and knees, he pushed himself upwards and aimed his gun at the strange alien individuals surrounding him. They appeared to be lightly peach colored in nature and also had a humanoid form, with light-yellow or dark blue iris's. They had no nose, just a shaped growth above their upper-lip with a slit on each side of it's length. Two figures looked to be woman, while the other four were males. The Chief, obviously outnumbered yet trsuting in his refined skills, kept his weapon up and straightened his posture.

"Cortana…they're just staring at me."

"I don't think the, 'shoot your way out' type of mantra you follow is going to work. Try lowering your weapon." she responded.

The figures were dressed in light-blue or silver tight robes with power-armor fragments on assorted areas of their body. One aimed his weapon at The Chief, a needle-rifle looking device with a green-and-gray metal frame. Some buttons were pressed by the alien male on his gun's receiver, and the thing fired a shot right into Chief's visor.

"Chief!" Cortana yelled. The shot seemed to turn into a web of energy and it went around The Chief's body, stunning him and ultimately forcing him to the floor where he blacked out. Cortana remained active, and she watched as the figures walked forwards, their black shoes clicking on the floor. Two grabbed Chief and lifted him, with great difficulty, and they eventually dragged his body off to some other part of the ship. The "Impact Zone" was being populated by fire-teams trying to repair, while also marking dangerous areas off. The Chief was thrown onto a table in a make-shift working area located in a stablalized area of this destroyed ship level. A high-ranking alien came over to him, the male had fancy power-armor bits over his white robes, with symbols covering his left-arm sleeve. The Official rested his four-fingered hand on The Chief's chest, tracing his finger across the armor and torso, feeling the Braille that read "117." It spoke, moving its mouth with great speed to the others, revealing it's teeth and pink tongue. His hair-style was simple, a red and dark-brown color, the hair slightly trimmed down into a military fashion. The aliens locked down the area and stood guard as the Official stepped back. After a moment, The Chief awoke and slowly rose, looking around wildly.

"Cortana? Where are y-?"

"Right here Chief." she responded, calming him down. The Chief was prepared for a combat scenario involving overwhelming odds, he'd been there and done that numerous times. However, he was awaiting the others to act first before he completely butchered this first contact event between this unidentified species of alien and mankind.

The Official looked to his ample squad of well-armed guards and took a hesitant step forwards.

"Chief?" Cortana spoke, drawing the word out as if she expected him to do something rash.

A hand came up to the Official's forehead, and the man seemed to ponder for a moment, shaking his head in disbelief. Suddenly he cleared his throat and addressed his issue to The Chief,

"I do not know if you realize...this but I can understand you."

Cortana's small box vanished, as well as her face. The Chief spun around to get his legs off the table. He had understood the Official as well. The language was English, the alien's voice morphed to sound like a human's as an immediate translation occured.

"Halt! …Raise your hand if you can comprehend my speech." The Official commanded. The guards became shaky and some even began to slightly raise their weapon in case of an incident. The Chief looked around to the aliens, their faces either confused, threatening, fearful, or completely blank. With a pause, The chief slowly raised his arm up, his palm facing outwards to the alien.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: W.W.C.D (What would Chief do?)

...

The Official hopped backwards with a jolt. A few guards raised their rifles while most sharply inhaled a breath and backed away. Suddenly, Cortana appeared in The Chief's HUD in her small box, she looked distraught as if she had just experienced something uncomfortable.

"How did it understand us?" The Chief asked Cortana. She shook her head, opened her eyes and looked to The Chief. With her mouth open a bit as if she didn't understand the question, Cortana then replied,

"It was most likely…the anomaly! The _Dawn _was struck by an EMP-like blast, prbably caused by the energy being massively transferred back and forth. There probably was a transfer of data alongside the effects of the blast."

The high-ranking alien understood everything, and he alerted the guards to lower their guns. He himself however, put a hand to an odd looking object on his hip, almost like a samurai readying his sword. He waited a moment for The Chief to get onto his feet, Again, the spartan's superior height and build seemed to scare the dwarfed alien below him.

"What are you? Where did you come from? What are you wearing? How do we know you're not with our enemy? …Who is inside of there with you, unless you're vocals are strange?" the Official asked.

"I am a human from the planet Ea-…well, this is a power-armor suit. I do not know the enemy that you speak of, and get your soldiers to lower their weapons…as for the last question."

The Chief showed the Official his gloved hand and the small AI body of Cortana appeared on it, sitting with her legs up to her chest. She stood up and crossed her arms over her chest to say,

"Greetings. I am Cortana, an artificial intelligence unit assigned to Sierra-117, a spartan warrior of the United Nations Space Command."

The Official looked down to the blue woman and then furrowed his brows as to comprehend all this information. Then he shot his closed eyes open, revealing his intense green eyes at The Chief.

"You neglected to inform me of what planet you are from, Alien." the Official challenged.

"That, is classified." The Chief responded, he used a cold tone of voice to get his "not-telling" point across.

"I'm like him, however I was designed off of a real human being. I am a computer, in the simplest terms. A self-aware computer."

"So you were programmed for what? I assume military functions? This vessel of yours looks to be a soldier. However is he of flesh or metal?"

"I am human, as alive as any one of you." The Chief interjected. The Official smiled and gestured to Cortana.

"Then is she _alive_?"

Cortana spun around to face The Chief, and he in turn looked down to her in a caring motion. After a moment of silence he shot his visor to the Official and confidently replied,

"She _is_ alive."

Cortana smirked and turned to face the Official, feeling a bit of unexpected victorious happiness. The Official nodded and gestured for The Chief to follow him. The two walked out of the work-site to enter the clean and perfect hallways of the flagship itself. Multiple aliens of different appearances yet similar of species ran by, most being engineers or fire-team workers, all giving eerie or horrified looks to their captain and his visitor. Guards accompanied the Official and kept their guns pointed at The Chief the entire time. Before long the Official asked about how Chief arrived here, and he emphasized the notion of how he wanted to know everything. The Chief told his story, about the UNSC and Covenant conflict, his goal to stop The Flood and about the legendary Forerunners, and finally how he ended up here after detonating a magnificent Forerunner device known as a "Halo' which was built to kill The Flood. The Alien told The Chief how his species the "Nareesi," had been at war with a rival species for ages. The rival species had began the war by destroying the first few colonies the Nareesi had managed to cobble together on otherplanets. Humans and Nareesi both shared very similar things, their history full of great violence and great love. These advancements came with the discovery of the resource: "Yluminite" The war had started when the Nareesi had discovered the precious resource on colony planets, and began harvesting it, oblivious to the species who lived underground- lying dormant by feeding on the Yluminite to survive and fueling their lives with it. That species had a history of its own. A history that stretched back to two millenniums after evolution and intelligence.

"So this resource is the source of this war, as well as the retaliation of the other species against your colonies?" The Chief asked.

"They wiped out entire populations. We responded by burning and flooding their homes one by one on any planet we discovered them on. Through those 20 years, we've fought constantly, and many believe this war will never end until every last one of _us _or _them _is dead." The Official replied.

"Very similar to the Covenant way of thought." Cortana eerily remarked.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Friendship

...

The Master Chief, Cortana, and the alien has been talking so long, that they had finally arrived where the Nareesi was leading them- the ship's bridge, it's grand dimensions and designs impressing The Chief. A huge white staircase led down to the shiny blue floor, where rows of electrical consoles controlled by crewmen and operators worked away to monitor the now weakened flagship's defenses, and the allied fleet alongside the flagship. There was still a battle going on. The Chief had not forgotten this, and he looked to the Official who halted to speak with a panicking crewman retelling reports of this battle's shift with the arrival of the broken _Dawn_.

"Allow me to properly introduce myself alien, I am Quo'tunn. The captain and religious archbishop of this vessel."

From the huge, 360-degree observational window going around the bridge, The Chief saw the stars, until the flashes of lights and obvious warships of the opposition and the Nareesi fleet intruded on the peaceful sight of this starry ocean.

Cortana and The Chief thanked the creator for having the Nareesi energy blast somehow switch and adapt to the language changes, thus providing a way for John and Cortana to speak with the Nareesi via mjolnir suit.

"It is rather fatal, the damage done to our ship by yours. Hopefully our fleet can be a crutch to our crippled flagship. They have the superior firepower, yet we have the numbers. With our shields down we'll only be holding our fleet back. Our engineers and mechanics are trying to do what they can, let's check up on them shall we?" Quo'tunn spoke.

He wanted to show off to the intelligent life he just discovered, and wanted to be sure his technology was as advanced, possibly even more, than theirs. He raised his arm, and a white screen, completely rectangular in shape, appeared. A video link appeared and it took some time to buffer and load, until it finally revealed a tired looking Nareesi engineer, with what looked like grease on his cheek and a red band tied onto his forehead. The image was incredibly vivid and clear, defining this light-peach and dark-brown man's facial features.

"Reporting in. Captain there's no time to chat, the engines might explode any second." the Nareesi spat out. He grunted and began to furiously work on something underneath him, picking things up from an unseen toolbox and using a power-tool to repair a damaged device.

Quo'tunn responded back with,

"Ghrvey, what are the status of our reactors? We can salvage the engines, we so possess a warp-hop drive. We also have aliens on our craft, best not let them explode with half of the ship if the reactors overheat or malfunction."

Ghrvey responded,

"We're lucky to only have a few lightly injured after their rough entry!" C_ould have used some lube you crazy bastards_ the engineer thought to himself. "The reactors are perfectly fine, however shield generators have shut down and we're exposed to their firepower. Rebooting them now with the new collant cells in place. Anyways captain, we need to-"

"I understand, get it done. Before I go, take a look at it." Quo'tunn turned around and flipped the view-screen around with a flick of his gloved finger, showing Ghrvey the aliens. The engineer gasped and looked hysteric. "Somehow our technology inadvertently let them communicate with us through that suit the, male I believe, is wearing." Quo'tunn responded.

Ghrvey headed to the shield generators, conversing with the ample supply of workmen frantically repairing the blown machines. He climbed aboard the huge device and jumped inside of it, landing in the spacious engineering compartment and getting to work as the crewmen above handed him collant cells. He wondered what the alien ships looked like, the one they arrived on was obviously damaged and incredibly undependable, what was it like when the ship was whole?

In the bridge, The Chief looked down from the captain's balcony and noticed a bright red flash from the corner of his eye. Suddenly a Nareesi crewman yelled out,

"Cannon blast coming right toward the bridge!"

"Get the defense shutters down now!" Quo'tunn ordered, gesturing for The Chief to retreat to a safe distance near the bridge's exit. His command arrived too late however, as the energy blast was already fatally nearing the observational window at a superb pace.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Treth

...

The UNSC Destroyer _Arctic Warmth _and the UNSC Frigate _Hansel _easily stood out from the horde of civilian spacecraft and other small space vessels as they all headed towards the newly found planet of **Treth**. The captain of the _Arctic _was escorting these civilian craft for colonization, most were refugees bitter and weary after the long war with the Covenant. The destroyer was a fearsome power in this fleet, jet black and incredibly powerful, armed with Covenant plasma artillery modifications gifted by the Sangheili. With the armistice between the Sangheili and the humans technology as well as other materials were gifted to each other between the two species, cementing their uneasy partnership.

"_Hansel_, make sure that the damn refugees don't stray from off from us. Those captains are shady." Captain Lance Walker told the smaller frigate. The frigate was also outfitted with Covie-Human hybrid weapons. The MAC gun was replaced with a small glassing beam- while the rest of the guns were still the same. A very frisky radio-voice responded back, it was a man.

"Copy that _Arctic_, we'll get messages relayed now. Hey, um, is your AI picking up anything strange captain Walker? The closer we get to the planet, the more our engines begin to drone down. I'd appreciate a scientific answer." The man replied.

Captain Walker stood from his seat and walked down the bridge to the AI station. He huffed a bit, and then asked

"Wright, verify the _Hansel's_ situation."

The small AI child popped up, looking happy and boyish. He was colored orange and looked like a small Caucasian boy living in the colonies, before they had been glassed or destroyed.

"Big bro, the UNSC and ONI have all given out the reports that this new planet has a mysterious energy-field range that will intercept our own engine's networking and begin to transform it. I cannot identify it's source."

Walker strutted to his chair and took his seat, putting a hand to his black-brown hair. He was in his early 40's, and was slightly annoyed at having to escort these civilians. However he knew that it had to be done, these poor souls deserved something bright to look forward to. He just wished that nothing would go wrong.

…

In a dark room with few lights, each a dark orange, a throne-like mass swiveled around and a very fearsome looking insectoid male addressed his commander,

(Hive-King, the Wretched have taken damage to their flagship, our stealth combatants have ample chance to infiltrate and obliterate their leader) an insectoid spoke. The Hive-King emerged from his warm cocoon/captain's chair and his mandibles went into a flurry of sloppy sounds as the fluid over his body, the coating coming from the insides of the cocoon dribbled down his intensely fit body.

(Send them out. Whatever craft has damaged it is most likely an ally. It is our duty as honorable men to get whatever beings are held captive by the Wretched at once! We will target their leader another time, for now we must ensure our ally's good health.)

The Hive-King sat back down into his cocoon and brought an arm up to his face. These Aliens looked like crickets mixed with humans. Their legs, arms, and torso are like an insect's except for the bug-like attachments and human-figure form. Their faces and heads are insect-like, however the humanoid resemblance is almost frightening. Big eyes, no nose, no ears, and a defined face with multiple mandibles on their chin-less mouth. Their Hive-King, a massive and evolved form of this species has hard shelling over his body, the bare flesh and skin bulging with huge muscles and veins. His skin is a light-gray and brown, with his tough shelling shaded a darker blue and black. His huge yellow eyes and humanoid face has a crown over it, and unlike his six-limbed subjects he has two arms and two digitigrade legs, three small clawed toes gripping onto the floor, and his one-thumbed and four-fingered fists had fluid dripping off to land onto his thigh's exoskeleton or the floor. He huffed out a breath and relaxed on his chair, the walls of his cocoon coming back down to obscure his royal person, a lithe figure's silhouette barely seen behind his broad body.

…

The Prophet of Lies and Vile Tales had blind-sided The Arbiter's fleet of Sangheili ships. He ordered his troops to take The Arbiter alive, while also forcing The Arbiter's ships to stand down and completely abandon all hostile intentions. Thel himself was accompanied by an armed escort of Sangheili, not of his own, who manhandled him to the bridge. There, the war-hero met with the prophet himself.

"Ah, Arbiter. It is a pleasure to see you." The Prophet laughed in Sangheili. The San Schuum looked down to Thel from atop his floating throne, bulky elite honor guards below him. Unggoy and Kig-Yar formed a crowd as The Arbiter arrived onto the bridge's open floor. Thel had been transported from his own ship to the prophet's supercarrier.

"You insolent fool, the Covenant is no more! What reason do these Sangheili and free species have to follow and serve under you?" Thel responded in his native tongue.

"Well, for one I do not abide by that foolish Covenant's laws and customs. I broke off a long time ago, forming my own fleet of loyal friends. I was never considered a heretic, seeing how many thought I was long dead or detained by the humans." The prophet replied smugly. The Arbiter furrowed his brow and lashed back with,

"Why call them by their proper name instead of the usual 'vermin' or 'filth'?" The elite minors holding him held him tighter as he took a step forwards in a challenging lunge.

"Why not pay attention to what went on with the prophets instead of just labeling them as liars and corrupt fools? I despised this idea of a Forerunner omnipotent being. I understood that they came before us, and were unfortunately defeated by the Parasite. So I, along with many of my trusted colleagues- knew that the only way to defeat the Covenant was to corrode them from the inside, while also claiming any Forerunner technology we came across in our free roaming. The persistent humans and your own renegade Sangheili managed to do that for me, defeat the Covenant that is. This is praise, Arbiter, not jealousy or scorn. These men and woman who serve under me pledged to fulfill their duties of making sure the Covenant is wiped out forever. The very idea of a Covenant group sickens them. Am I correct?!" he boomed.

Grunts squealed, jackals screeched, and elites fiercely cheered, all agreeing with their leader.

"Mhm…I understand your intent. What of my fleet and men? Are they to serve under you as well?" The Arbiter questioned. Was he to be captured and _used_?

"No, of course not. You are free to do as you wish _or _you could join me for one last quest as we scour the Sol system. We either get more Covenant fools to see clearly or kill them if the need comes. I also wouldn't mind having my researchers examine even more Forerunner relics or data we stumble across, I am sure you could send out, or even lead, a squad to these potential sites we have found beforehand?"

The Arbiter looked around. He thought of Sanghelios and of his own friends there. He thought of the troubling times he had lived through, of the deeds he had done, of the people he had lost and the ones he had murdered. This prophet seemed…odd, and his title made him out to be mistrusted. Perhaps it was just a gimmick? Then, he thought of the spartan, Sierra-117.

"On one condition, I will aid you but my own troops can freely choose to follow me in this quest. or return to their homes. It has been a long and weary war, and we all wish to return home. There are other species on these ships requiring a ride to their own home planets, as we have agreed to bus them."

The prophet leaned down, and smiled. He nodded and ordered for the elites to unhand him. The Arbiter was allowed to return to his own ship, or travel this one to meet with the prophet's own men.

"It would be beneficial to know your new allies, Arbiter."

From the corner of his eye, he spotted a few female, non-combat sangheili, armored in tight black suits with light-blue plating over it. They were whispering among themselves, their eyes full of sly malice, each sneaking a glance to Thel every moment or so.

The deal was made between the prophet and The Arbiter, and the hero himself decided to explore the vessel while he was here.

…

The bolt grew larger and finally reached it's destination. Quo'tunn cursed and held his breath as he expected the worst, however the bolt smashed into an invisible field which suddenly sprouted up around the flagship. The energy dispersed along the shielding and finally dissipated, now just harmless particles in space. Quo'tunn opened his eyes, put a hand to the cold shoulder of The Chief, exchanged a surprised smile with his crewmen, and he comm'ed in to Ghrvey.

The Nareesi engineer was wiping his forehead, his location was a bright yellow room with Nareesi in hazard outfits making their way past him. The bastard was smiling like a sheepish devil.

"Got the shields up, sir!"

"Engineer, you have no idea what you just prevented." Quo'tunn laughed back. Ghrvey looked to his captain with a confused stare.

"Uh, thank you sir. Ghrvey out."

As Quo'tunn ended his call, a crewmen near his chair spun around after clicking away at his communications station.

"Captain, fighter squadrons reporting in, they have spotted cloaked vessels speeding by our defenses. Calculated arrival time, a half-hour or more. We have the debris shields holding them up, and our fighters are hassling the ones they can make out."

Quo'tunn thought for a moment, asked about the positions of his marine teams, and was dissatisfied with the answer he received. He then looked to The Chief and gave a hard stare to the giant super-soldier.

"Master Chief, take your AI to the impact zone. Meet up with Ghrvey and protect that area. I think with our weak structure, Hive Infiltrators will want to move in and try to kill me… I _cannot _die here. Pardon the narcissism."

The Chief slowly nodded, and ran back to an elevator with some awaiting Nareesi. One was a female, while the other was a buff looking, scarred veteran.

In a unique accent, the female asked,

"Hello, you have to the Master Chief, is that right? I'm Beronica, this is Murdokk." she commented.

Her brown eyes, and pretty face matched her zany purple and blonde hair, streaks of black running along the yellow.

"Chief, you sure you really want to partake in these hostilities? Who are we to ally ourselves with a species we just met?" Cortana questioned. She provided an accurate point, and The Chief didn't have time to respond before someone gestured him inside and the elevator doors shut.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Strangers

...

The colonization fleet successfully landed at Treth. The destroyer and frigate remained stationed at the planet, while reinforcements arrived to bolster the defense of this pilgrimage. In a short time, as the colonization ships slowy dipped themselves into Treth's habitable atmosphere, slipspace entries opened up and the cavalry arrived.

"UNSC frigate _Battlestar _here, along with the _Native _and _Levine's Ring_." Walker heard. His bridge crew worked away to ensure things went smoothly as these reinforcements arrived all at once. The bright glow of his holographic monitor display and the computers themselves appeared to add a very mystical mood to this destroyer's bridge room.

The three frigates were flanked by another destroyer and two Halcyon-class Cruisers. One very rare ONI prowler was even spotted in between the two massive cruisers. Walker noticed the incoming message on his communications monitor. He accessed it and was greeted by the face-still of an aged man.

"Captain Walker, I am Admiral Stalin. My cruiser and the cruiser _Particular Silence_ along with the destroyer _Memory _will head off to the far side of the planet. ONI has some intel for us to check out. I will leave the frigates and prowler here with you. Take care captain, and be ready if we need you."

"Aye aye Admiral." Walker responded. The gruff old voice of Stalin ended and the fleet dispersed.

"Wright, message the frigates to form a line of defense to the planet. I want the prowler laying mines on the farthest edges of our ring."

The Hologram of the AI boy popped up, looking up with innocent eyes to Walker. He stood still for a moment and looked blank, a motionless figurine for the smallest fraction of a second. Then he animated himself again and nodded his head, responding with,

"Already done sir."

…

The Arbiter's fleet and the prophet's fleet conjoined to form the _Grand Fleet of Vengeance and Pardons_ where the two supercarriers reigned supreme over the various cruisers and corvettes that flew with them. Thel and his shipmaster Rtas strolled down the bridge of their supercarrier.

"Permit me to speak, Arbiter?" Rtas asked.

"Go on brother." Thel responded, looking over the shoulder of his navigator.

"This truce, it seems unwise."

"I understand your concerns friend. I must say, the prophet seems to be trustworthy. Speak safe around him, many brothers and sisters have been oath-fully bound to serve him. Pfff, a quest for vengeance? To kill the vile Truth was the end of my journey, but it seems that perhaps I have more to accomplish. The task to-"

"Liberate our brothers and sisters while heralding the doom to the confused is one we cannot tread lightly Arbiter." the prophet spoke. His face and voice appeared on a drone-like device that hovered down from the doors to the bridge, to Rtas's side. Rtas grunted with surprise and annoyance. Thel did the same, except he showed a lighter mood when he responded.

"Yes, prophet. However it is necessary…how goes the lives of my enslaved brothers and sisters?"

The Prophet laughed and replied with,

"They are not slaves, no Arbiter. They are loyal and righteous. How long will your doubts be with you? I patiently wait for them to die."

Rtas quietly spoke, "So that is his answer?"

The Arbiter ignored his comrade's grave comment and then smacked the drone away. The prophet looked surprised and dissatisfied.

…

Murdokk, with his deep voice and gruff demeanor gave The Chief a breakdown of the weapons he and Beronica were using. There was the single-shot rifle, the automatic pistol, and the submachine-gun he had which Beronica did not, instead she possessed a brutal short shotgun without a stock. The Chief sprinted away from the elevator along with Murdokk and Beronica after the doors opened up. Murdokk handed Chief his rifle, the Spartan took the weapon with open arms as his assault rifle ammunition was incredibly sparse. Beronica went on ahead to some engineers who had made it out of the impact zone. As expected, Infiltrators were swarming the area. The three headed over to some cover which served as a barricade to a doorway. Engineers, looking ragged and horrified, jumped over the barricades. Murdokk grabbed one and barked,

"Calm down! What's the situation over there?"

"It's a massacre in there!" she screamed back.

Murdokk ordered her to head to the exit of the impact zone. He looked to Beronica, who was aiming her rifle over the boxes and semi-broken infrastructure to scope out the room this doorway lead to. She looked to Murdokk and nodded, and the trio headed over the barricades to enter the mostly empty and spacious room. The trio met up with some pinned down Nareesi marines, fully armored in combat uniforms and setting up tactical turrets.

"Chief, I think we should find Ghrvey, he seems to be an asset to this engineering corps in the flagship. Ask around!" Cortana advised. Turning to Beronica, The Chief asked,

"Ask them where Ghrvey is." The Nareesi nodded in agreement and slid over to a marine as he finished setting up the disc-turret, three barrels coming out of it while the top flipped open to act as a shield to the controller.

"Oh, hey! We got word that you're room the captain's own task force. Name's Rolynd, vice-prime of this combat-tech squad. Infiltrators busted through the flimsy shields we set up so that the oxygen wouldn't get sucked out to space, and they sealed the entry area. The prime himself is off to seal the other breaches."

"Where's Ghrvey, head engineer and technician of the repair teams?"

With the sounds of more turrets being deployed, Rolynd had trouble hearing her.

"What? Oh, yeah, he's still in the reactor tunnels, locking them down. He's prepared to blow the area off, fire control teams and emergency squads will seal off the area for good, we can always enter the reactor rooms via lifts from the ship's emergency shafts."

"Alright. Ok, alien stay here! Murdokk, let's get over there!"

As they left, Cortana shouted a warning just as the wall to The Chief's left blasted open. The turrets slowly spun around and began to fire hot shells that glowed a shining purple. The Chief ducked as shrapnel flew over the turrets, a few small bits scraping against his armor and the white turrets themselves. He raised his rifle, and aimed. From the smoke, came green gunfire which destroyed the unshielded turrets. The Chief rolled forwards, went up to the side of the hole and then jumped in front. His rifle was quickly knocked away, and he was kicked in the chest. In the gray smoke came the black outlines of tall soldiers, black plated armor covering their insectoid bodies. An entire dozen swarmed in and attacked The Chief, their superior numbers overtaking him. He blocked a few grabs, and managed to fight off some, however he was hefted up and subdued, multiple barrels from their strange guns jabbing at him from all sides. Then, he heard them speak, clicks and garbles and low pitched squealing or quick groans.

(I have the VIP, h'es hysteric but we've detained him. Let's move out of here, men. Rig the place to blow!) an infiltrator spoke. The dark-red visor blocking his face from view showed The Chief's own reflection. The black armored insects cloaked and double-timed it back to their shuttle, where the ship made a hasty and covert escape back to the Hiveship.

(We've done it! If only it could communicate with us. Remember, it is still considered a mystery, this alien. Be sure to secure it, constrict it's motions.)

The Chief asked while struggling to escape his binds. He was seated inside the shuttle, which looked like a smaller and flatter version of an UNSC albatross, that was his only comparison to the alien craft. The inside was dark, however these insectoids could see everything, the small lights on the ceiling didn't really have to matter.

"Chief, I'm trying to decipher their language, find something that will comprehend their speech and translate it. If the matrixes I reworked from the Nareesi device could be reverse-engineered, maybe I can use it for these big bugs! Sit tight spartan, I don't think these guys see you as a threat. They appear to be an elite unit, like a Sangheili special-ops unit, skirmishers, etc."

The Infiltrators took off their helmets, revealing their faces. You could see the facial expressions and emotions when they spoke as the pilots began to fly the shuttle out just as the last infiltrator jumped in, the hatch leading downwards to the _Dawn's _war-path closing up.

(I always knew there were others out there other than the Wretched.) one spoke. He put his hands to his face and seemed to exhale.

(Maybe one day we can finally have piece, once every single one of the Wretched is gone.) another responded.

The situation soon became incredibly tense as all turned their eyes to the equally tall figure of The Chief, each fearing what would happen if his binds were to break.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Contact Treth

The frightening clicking and hisses the insectoids made as they walked by The Chief's cell was unnerving, as well as disturbing. The Chief, in his worn and torn, drab olive armor- would get up and inspect his environment. From the goo on the ground, to the thick metal the cell was created from- even to the small screws on the lights that illuminated the cell. He clunked around and about, formulating a battle plan in case the time came to escape. And the time would come….

After the shuttle had landed, insectoids led him to the darkest and largest sections of the brig, all careful not to get too close. There, they found a cell far above the ruthless prison below, and locked him in. His treatment would be better than the others, as he was a visitor, however these beings did not have sufficient cause to get him a room with various pleasantries that royals often would receive when aboard this ship. Soon, the Hive-King himself would want an audience with this alien, and then it was all up to the King from there. No doubt those Wretched had been corrupting him with their lies and fallacies. It would be best to isolate this stranger and let him enjoy the peaceful silence.

"Chief?" Cortana asked. She popped up in his HUD, again in the same small box.

"Yes?" he replied. He was seated on the flat, inward scooped "bed" bolted to the side of this cell, the thick poles of the cage-doors often being grabbed by the guards so they can peer inside and ogle at the alien.

"I've almost done it. When they speak, I record it and send it through to a database of languages which go through a Nareesi-English translator. It's working well, we just need more voice inputs from different sources. If only there was a way to rile an entire amount up, I cold have easy pickings of which vocal inputs I'd need. It'd be tough to sift through, but I can do it so long as you're up and about…it's good to speak with you again, after all this time." she softly spoke.

"I didn't expect this kind of situation when I told you to wake me."

He let out his hand and she appeared on it, standing upright.

"It's been over four years, John…I have something to say."

"Go for it."

"…_AI's generally live for seven years, and then deteriorate. I was commissioned eight years ago. I'm going to go rampant, Chief, and there's nothing I can do to stop it_."

…

The UNSC destroyer stationed at the planet Treth along with the various frigates and the one prowler accompanying it- had just been baffled to see an enormous Covenant fleet suddenly arrive, halting their faster-than-light travel speed to almost smash into the puny line of frigates. The Arbiter and his fleet led the way, while the prophet's fleet accompanied the rear. They had decided to check up on a piece of intel the prophet possessed, something about an ancient Forerunner planet, some confusing history going about Forerunners working under a few highly esteemed leaders of their species. The frigates propped up their point-defense turrets while Captain Walker of the UNSC destroyer _Arctic Warmth _was preparing his MAC guns for constant fire. The ONI prowler lied in its cloaked state, inspecting the scene from afar.

"Captain, although the situation may be a bit tense- may I remind you that our reactor energy is still being blooded out by an unknown anomaly within our craft. Same goes for the rest of the ships. Maybe the admiral is investigating this?" Wright asked. His orange hologram was standing at attention at his console, far away from the tactical board and captain's chair. Before Walker could respond, a video conference was accepted by Stalin and his feed came up,

"Captain Walker, mind telling me what the fuss is?" Admiral Stalin came on to say. His grizzled features were darkened by the dim lights of the bridge he resided in. His white brow all the more furrowed.

"Sir, we have a massive fleet of Covenant-class ships here, unknown whether they're Covenant Remnant or Sangheili! They have not fired yet, nor have they proclaimed themselves allies. We need you back here if the fighting begins sir, they're bound to discover the refugees!" Walker exclaimed.

Stalin stepped backwards, the light gone from his face. His clean white uniform stood out in the bridge. He sighed, and had to ponder for a moment.

"Negative son. I need these ships here with me. I swear, under any and all Gods, I will return for you. Until then, God help you." and with that, the comm signal cut off.

"W-what? Did he just…?"

…

The Arbiter stood from his throne/chair and surprisingly yelled,

"Humans! Here?! Halt any offensive actions. We are allies to them."

Rtas relayed these orders to the rest of the massive Fleet. The prophet acknowledged, and his ship's plasma batteries and turrets were left depleted of power.

"This planet seems to be remote, the only one of three planets in this small star system. It seems to be important to the humans, no doubt a world where they can colonize." Flashes of glassed worlds came back to his mind, and he blocked them out. "Our fleet size no doubt has them fearing for their lives. All ships fall back, send a spirit in to quell their fears. Get me a roster."

The larger portion of the fleet turned and slightly retreated, however a few ships, The Arbiter and prophet's own supercarriers took point. A lone, green painted Spirit, outfitted with Sangheili and Kig-yar were sent out from The Arbiter's supercarrier, a team chosen by and briefed by The Arbiter himself. The frigates aimed their point-turrets at it, the ship slowly went in to the closest one, the _Levine's Ring_. Rtas informed Thel of some strange news at the same time,

"Arbiter- our ship's engines and reactors are being depleted of power. Is it accurate to conclude that the humans are powering us down?"

"Nonsense…I believe it's something the humans cannot even fathom to create. It must be something else." Thel replied.

…


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Royal court

"Chief? You have visitors." Cortana asked. She awoke him from his daze. The Chief sucked in a breath of the heavy air in this cell and stood up.

"I'm here." The Chief responded.

The cell doors opened up to reveal two armed insectoids. One gestured for The Chief to come out. The other stood at attention, glancing around at the other cells when he could. These simple guards wore just a dark-orange uniform, and relied on their exoskeleton to keep them from harm. One was onyx in color while the other was golden brown. Both had strange insect eyes of yellow-green and bright-caramel.

The Chief stalked out of his cell and looked to the insectoids, each standing at their full height and trying to look fearsome. They walked through the upper-brig at his sides, The Chief occasionally looking at some prisoners who were passing the time by doing the regular prsioner routine. They were either the very same species of insect, or other forms of life- savage, hairless mammalians, or what looked like mythical sea creatures. Almost all of them were very rough looking. Think loose and tattered clothing, darkly inked tattoos, and scars. Most looked very broken, or simply blank as The Chief passed by.

"I guess we're finally going to meet the head honcho here. I believe we're VIPs, take caution Chief- be sure not to antagonize their leaders. We're guests here Chief. Who knows, maybe they'll have the technology to get us home. For now, we'll have to cope and scope both of these species out, while I also record some data on these other ones." Cortana commented.

The trio came to a guarded elevator, and they stepped in, solid gray walls on either side, the door sliding together to show a diagonally-striped.

(This is it. Get ready stranger. The throne-room awaits.) one of them said.

(Don't be so dramatic. We'll have leashes on this beast, and plenty of heavy infantry to make sure he doesn't berserk.) the other chirped.

The elevator stopped, and the gilded doors opened to reveal a massive room with computers, crates, chairs, desks, a small armory, and a huge bridge area. Checkpoints marked off notable locations. The private armory was locked off from the bridge, and both of them from the throne room. The Chief was pushed in, only to meet an armed escort of seven guards. Their green painted rifles aimed at the drab olive armored spartan. The Chief walked in and was brought to the Hive-King. A gigantic insectoid brute who resided in a huge cocoon/throne. He had what looked like a regal crown on his head with black spikes coming up and out of it's carved gray-black band. He rose, his massive clawed foot landing on the ground. It reminded The Chief of a Hunter at full height, however this giant didn't recite poetry as well as the worm species.

(You are here, stranger.) The Hive-King announced, looking down to The Chief. He approached the spartan, observing the mjolnir armor suit The Chief wore, looking at the guards that were ensuring his own safety (not like he needed them) after noticing the impressive height and build of this specimen.

(How exciting!) someoneexclaimed. It came as a slightly high pitched squeal, a very feminine sound. From the cocoon came a very womanly figure. She was naked, pale and light-brown with her exoskeleton fused with her fleshy and humanoid anatomy. She had the same eyes and mandible mouth as her fellow kin. Her hair was dark-brown and red, tied in long braids with glamorous metal bands running down them. She grabbed a long silky garment and draped it over her body. Her four-fingered hand clutched at the shiny, butter-yellow garments and she took soft steps downwards with her clawed feet.

"Well, this seems to be a female of this species." Cortana remarked.

The female insectoid strode to The Chief and ushered the guards to back off a bit. She took her time feeling up The Chief's armor, and inspecting him. The Chief took the best of his ability to disregard her, he knew if he tried to shrug her off it'd be a sign of disrespect towards the Hive-King.

(My _queen_, back away from it now.) the Hive-King ordered. He neared his wife, appraoching her with quicker steps as she became braver with her prodding and inspecting with The Chief. She gave the Hive-King a glare, and the insectoid replied,

(Leave me be. I'm only inspecting our visitor. Go back to your duties, there is a battle raging at the moment if you haven't noticed.) she snidely remarked. The Hive-King seemed to huff in impatience and anger, the queen was known for being very unstable, even treasonous. (If it touches me, we'll have it killed.)

"Might not want to make any sudden moves, Chief." Cortana suddenly advised.

As the queen raised a hand to The Chief's helmet, she made an incredibly sly face and began to raise the helmet off of his head. As The Chief's ghostly pale chin came into view the queen seemed to gasp, and she quickly started to raise the helmet even more. However, she was not tall enough, and she stood on her tip-toes to try and tug the helmet off. When the lips, upper lip, and nose were seen she let go of the helmet and began to shout,

(Nareesi! It is Nareesi!)

It was true that the Nareesi and mankind shared very similar features, yet she was simply jumping to conclusions now. The Hive-King grabbed his wife and snatched her away with one arm, swiftly transferring her from one spot to another. He then jumped forward, raised a fist and brought it to The Chief's helmet. He flew through the air, smashing into various guards until he ended his journey by sliding to the floor. Guns pointed everywhere at him, and he raised his hands in surrender. Waiting for someone to near him, he kicked the thing's legs out from under it and grabbed it's gun.

"Chief!" Cortana shouted.

He aimed the curved weapon at the a guard who was flanking him and pushed his fingers on the long trigger of his gun. Nothing came out of his weapon.

(Useless attempt. These weapons only work with our DNA.) the Hive-King chuckled.

"Watch out, two from behind you, one on the right!" Cortana informed him.

He flung the weapon and ducked down to avoid the gunfire from the one on his right, only to be grabbed by the superb speed of the Hive-King. He was flung over down the stairs to the checkpoint before the main bridge area, an atrium-like section where multiple lines of soldiers were waiting to execute The Chief.

(Take it to the Brig! We'll strip it and discover what exactly it is, Nareesi or elsewise. I will judge this creature for myself later.) the Hive-King announced. He turned away as the swarm came onto The Chief, him struggling to fight off the insectoids.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Glorious Pavilion

"Chief-"

"Cortana, did you map out and store the routes of the brig while we traveled to the bridge?"

"I'm sure of it."

"Good. Be sure to stay on the ball and tell me where to go in case things get hairy."

"Affirmative. You got it Spartan. We're here for each other after all."

The spartan was escorted by two armed insectoid guards, each growling and menacingly jabbing The Chief in the back with their guns. They only had an armored torso and shin guards, the rest painted skin or exoskeleton. This new cell was for hardened criminals, and war prisoners. The guards flung him into the cell and then went to the accompanying cell and shot out jeers to the inhabitant inside. The guard was about to turn away when a shiny shank was thrust into his backside, yellow-green blood spurting out of his back. The other guard turned around only to have The Chief jump on him and use his hidden combat knife to stab the thing in the torso, yellowish-green blood falling out onto the ground. The cell next to The Chief's opened, and a gaunt looking Insectanoid with a missing arm walked out. It had tattered clothing, and a gruesome scar on its face, completely blinding on eye and injuring a few small mandibles. It was clearly a prisoner, and the kicking of the dead guard's body on the ground, plus the looting of it's corpse helped emphasize the fact. The one-armed figure grabbed the keys of his cell and went to other cells, unlocking the prisoners inside. The equally grim looking figures ran out, shaking with energy and excitement.

(Prisoner escape! Guards, get to their sectors! Shoot to kill!) one armed officer shouted through the announcement system. Cortana translated, and the Chief ducked behind the short fence-wall attached to the pathway his cell was on. One insectoid guard ran down his pathway, firing shots at The Chief. The spartan rolled and flung his combat knife into the guard's face, making the thing flip over backwards and slump onto the ground.

"Chief!" Cortana warned, as a guard fired point blank into the Chief's back. The shots went through his shields, revealing his armor. The guard emptied his clip, and he angrily flung it aside only to have it caught by the one-armed Insectanoid prisoner. The being spun, weapon in hand, and smashed the stock into the guard's face with vicious blows. The Chief got up and stared at the prisoner. It stared back, and then after a moment it gestured to The Chief to follow it. Cortana tried her best to translate the alien talk of the prisoners as they rebelled against their guards and took weapons, The Chief in the middle of this hell.

"This is great! Look at all these audio samples! Processing of that explanation earlier is sure to increase if I can get a few dozen more inputs." Cortana laughed. She suddenly groaned in pain and her blue body seemed to flicker to a green color for a split second. The Chief only paid half a mind to this event, he was too focused on getting his shields to recharge and avoiding the gunfire from the guards above.

(Brothers! Overthrow these subjects of incarceration, free yourselves and your kin so we may repent for our sins and escape with our lives. The demons aboard this vessel intend to slaughter us, for the crimes of our own survival? Go, fight back! Charge to the lift!) the one-armed insectoid yelled. Red shots whizzed by by the hundreds, and raucous cheers erupted from the prisoners. Guards were felled, by bullet or shank. Other were thrown off over the guard rails. The Chief followed the alien to the main elevator, the ground covered in blood and gore as the guards atop it lay dead or dying. A huge sea-creature like crustacean species flung a guard over the guard rail, into the crowd of insane prisoners kept below. They tore the poor man to shreds. The alien gestured to the creature,

(This is Kaduk the Mighty. Watch as he frees these doors for us, his strength ensuring our entrance to the heavens above!)

The pink-red giant roared and used its pincers to grab onto the elevator doors, tearing them off. Armed prisoners, intoxicated by the idea of freedom and salvation- followed Kaduk, the one-armed leader, and The Chief into the elevator. All eyes were on the chief or the one-armed Alien.

(Being! I am Ja'bee, commander of the 148th battalion. Imprisoned for the crime of retreating from certain death…my mission was to get my men safely out of an area where almost all were pinned by the Wretched. Under the rule of our corrupt Hive-Queen, we were forced to obey her orders of staying until victory or all were dead. Neglecting these orders, and saving my men- the Hive-Queen ordered us to be imprisoned on this vessel unto execution at our home world. For long and hellish days, I've rallied my men and other prisoners- our mission is to escape this ship with our lives. _You_. You are the what we need to complete this plan. We are tagged, and therefore cannot activate any technology in this ship. Activate the third hangar bay doors, and let us fly off to salvation by shuttle. Do you accept?) Ja'bee spoke, he spoke with such gusto and brilliance the men in the elevator yelled with courage and pride after his speech.

"Chief, avoiding death from these barbarians sounds much better than you know- being torn to shreds if you ask me." Cortana quipped.

The Chief looked at the crowd and nodded. The elevator doors opened, large heavy slabs parting to reveal a firing line of guards, and they shot right into the crowd. Ja'bee alien grabbed The Chief and dragged him behind Kaduk. The trio, along with a few survivors managed to plow right into the firing line, scattering the guards. Sent into a fanatic panic, the guards scrambled to run from Kaduk and Ja'bee's men. The Chief knifed and melee'd his way to the center of the room. The group rallied and stormed hangar bay 3, ignoring the heavily armored guards firing minigun-like weapons. With bullets whizzing past their heads, the group managed to subdue one guard by flanking it.

Ja'bee captured a shuttle and put his piloting skills to the test, slowly ascending over the floor. Kaduk hopped in just as it flew up, and the gunship soared towards the bay exit. Kaduk hefted up The Chief as he was pinned down by a squad of guards, his shields down and knife lost. Just as The Chief was pulled inside, a missile smashed into the gunship causing it to crash into the floor and skid to a halt.

"Chief! …Chief! …_John_!" Cortana desperately yelled. The Chief stood up immediately, his breathing heavy and body burning. He looked around with his clouded vision- his head ringing and hurting from the violent crash. Kaduk was dead- torn in half and lying on the ground with his guts around his massive corpse. He was propping up a cockpit wing when he died, and inside was Ja'bee clutching a small package. Weakly, the dying Ja'bee looked to The Chief and spoke,

(Being, escape from this place. May you get your freedom..._go_!) Ja'bee persisted, blood sputtering out of his mouth, his face wincing in pain with eyes going blank. The Chief ran escaped from the crash site, as bullets whizzed by him. A whole swarm of guards came to check on the site- only to have it explode in an orange inferno of death. The Chief dived just in time, as the searing heat went over him and to the heavily armored guard in front. The insectoid literally turned to dust, having all aspects of his physique burn away to ash.

"The door, to your right! Through there will be the first bay of escape pods, jettison yourself from this ship! Take a girl for a ride, Spartan move!" Cortana yelled.

Sprinting through the door and past the guards, The Chief rolled his way into one of the escape pod bays- just as the guard inside was locking it down. The Chief smashed the guard's face into the console, making sure it wouldn't open again- and he climbed into the cylindrical tubes. He inserted Cortana into the escape pod's dashboard- and she jettisoned them out into the battleground between the massive flagships. The pod narrowly escaped crashing into a insectoid cruiser, however it went on to fly near the Nareesi flagship.

"The Nareesi are right there Chief! Jump for it!" Cortana screamed. The Chief grabbed Cortana's chip and opened the hatch and he thruster boosted his way out into space, the momentum carrying him to a platform area. The Chief braced himself for a hard landing, and he slammed into the platform. Crawling his way to the airlock- he frantically inserted Cortana into a panel, and she quickly opened it up. The Chief stood up, grabbed Cortana from the console- and he dived in just as the doors shut. The compartment filled with air again, pressurizing the place. Lying there for a few minutes, catching his breath and letting his body rest from the weary escape- he rolled quickly to his feet just as the other airlock opened.

"Would you look at that?" Ghrvey resounded. He had a rifle aimed right at The Chief, and he lowered it to usher the spartan in. He sealed the airlock- and introduced The Chief to the Nareesi marines, all dumbfounded to see this being here.

"So, how was the trip?"

…

The queen fiercely screamed with rage. She threw a small pot containing glowing beads, flung about bottles of body paint and fragrances, clawing apart fabrics, wrecking the room as she seethed. She spun and strut about, clothing swaying with every step.

(The scoundrel escaped?! How could you let this happen?! ARGH! I want every officer in charge of the brig executed! Jettison their corpses into space! _Do you have any idea how close I was to the hands of that assassin_? And that treasonous batallion commander will not receive a military funeral or burial.) she sneered.

The massive Hive-King lumbered into this new room, a private chamber which was much more brightly lit and comfortable, a soft double-bed with mirrors and dressers around, a carpet on the solid, hard floor which caressed his tough feet. He placed a hand on his wife's smaller shoulder to comfort her She flung it off and stormed out of the room to the throne room. The Hive-King sighed and turned to an officer.

(Don't listen to her orders. How many casualties?) he spoke, his deep voice echoing around the room.

(Ugh, too mny, sir.) the officer replied.

(*sigh*…who led the rebellion? And how did the new prisoner escape through this pandemonium?)

(Commander Ja'bee led the rebellion sir. The new prisoner somehow worked with Ja'bee to escape. However Ja'bee and all of his men were killed in the process. The prisoner used an escape pod to escape, we do not know how it managed to operate our technology sufficiently to organize it's own escape. If it is a Nareesi agent, it'd headed back to the flagship.)

(Damn, I was going to let Ja'bee go. He was a good man who didn't deserve the wrath of our _queen_. With great men serving under him…I guess it's no surprise the newcomer worked with him. Damnit…if only he waited longer before going through with such foolishness. ARGH!)

The Hive-King stormed out, cape flowing heroically in an almost heroic fashion. He stalked off to his chair, and sat to silently honor Ja'bee.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Unacceptable casualties

"Admiral, we've found the opening…just as the data reads."

Stalin briskly walked from the holotable to his captain's chair. He slumped into it, and buckled himself in. The rest of the crew of his bridge did the same. A public announcement message was sent out, and a few minutes later the party started. The cruiser was orbiting in atmosphere above a massive, octagon-sized hole in the planet Treth! The cruiser slowed down and then sped right into the hole, while the other cruiser and the destroyer accompanying it went in after it. After the three ships made it inside the bright hole, what appeared to be a transparent green screen of energy went up and covered the hole- blocking any access of entering or escaping. Stalin huffed a bit as the cruiser sped downwards to the planet, the ships were flying past all the Forerunner walls of technology as they passed through the shield and down to the planet below. Finally after what seemed like an hour of flying all three UNSC vessels emerged into a planet where lush forests and jungles surrounded the terrain. All around were massive installations of towers or base structures, all having some aspect of their exterior covered with vegetation.

"All hands, prepare for exploration. Failure is not an option here. Sources indicate at the least three separate installations all suspected to hold the objective. Fireteams, move in and check out every nook or cranny of that place. We can't have hostile forces murdering our science teams." Stalin commanded. A short time later pelicans and shortswords swarmed out of the hangars from the ships- they spread out and flew away to each of the installations. The enormous swarm split up to three divisions and those three each went to a tower. Rivers and lakes surrounded the bottom of the towers while large mountains with peaks of snow rose up from behind the towers. Stalin told the destroyer _Memory _to guard the opening of the shield world. The _Particular Silence_ and Stalin's own vessel went ahead to separate parts of the planet, eager to observe more of this place.

The colonization fleet was sent as an excuse to explore this planet. There would be homes for refugees while the UNSC got their hands on more mysterious Forerunner technology which mankind could only access. However reports from Lance Walker worried him, and he prayed that that those ships were Sangheili.

…

Ghrvey took The Chief with him along with his security team to an area of airlocks. The atmosphere was tense, and the blue uniformed security team was holding their breath, counting the booms they could hear from ever barrage of insectoid fire. Ghrvey had his own uniform ripped off, revealing a toned body. His bandana was off his forehead, it was now tied onto his bloody arm. He still had the black oily grease-look alike on his face, although the liquid was smudged a bit. With handsome brown eyes, and a charming aura from him, you could say that Ghrvey was a real looker for the ladies. Ghrvey accessed a locked down door with a few fast but small strokes to the keypad operating it, and he revealed a technical area to the group.

"Right, the Captain told me how your suit can translate my speech, and vice-versa. You need to leave, got me? This place is a hot zone, and we can't risk you dying here. That gun you brought with you, we kept a hold of it and saved it for your eventual return. To be honest, the captain was ready to commit ritual suicide over what he calls, 'the biggest mistake of this generation' after he discovered you were taken by the enemy."

The Chief turned away and was about to follow his security escort out when Ghrvey grabbed his shoulder. He spun The Chief around and gave him a hard stare, right into his visor. After a moment he pushed The Chief away.

"You're tough…reminds me of the captain. Go, this naval battle is lost." Ghrvey spoke, his voice never faltering- instead it sounded incredibly, undeniably heart-felt. The Chief traveled with the security team away from the room, with its assorted colors of large wires and technology that fizzed and crackled.

…

The elevator doors opened and out stepped The Chief. He held an unconscious heroic pose, before he walked out and clanked his way to the upper-bridge. Quo'tunn was there, looking like he had just seen a ghost.

"Bless the God, there you are! I knew sending you down there was a bad idea, please disregard my foolishness. You…you are incredible, how'd you manage to escape?" he asked. "Take this. We can communicate with each other via your helmet. I think your artificial intelligence can speak with us also."

The Chief took the small comlink and attached it onto the side of his helmet, where it seemed to automatically tap into his comms.

"Uh, sir, this is Cortana- we regrouped with Ghrvey after our re-entry into the flagship. This battle looks grim, chances of a victory are slim to none, captain."

The crew of the bridge began to belay orders and commands everywhere to the flagship and fleet. The battered fleet of Nareesi ships began to huddle around the massive flagship. Quo'tunn looked away, to the observation window that showed the demise of his fleet. He sighed and looked down. Turning back to The Chief, but addressing Cortana he said,

"Our fleet is depleting itself of Yluminite. The resource powers our engines and reactors, damn near everything. It's the wonder fuel, and both sides of this war use it as effectively as they can. The flagship is the only vessel left with enough energy to warp-hop our way into friendly territory. Ghrvey volunteered to transfer all the energy from our weapons and shields to warp-hop us and all the other survivors of our fleet. He volunteered…for a suicide mission." Quo'tunn admitted. He regained his posture a bit and stared right at the Chief. John understood the importance of Ghrvey's mission now, and he spun around and headed for the door.

"What?" Cortana softly asked.

"I'm going to help. There must be another way." The Chief replied.

"Ugh, Chief, w-w-w-w-what is going on. _It'shappeningit'shappeneingohnoohno_-"

"*crackle* The intensity of the fusion conduits are ruining this message. Captain, it's been an honor. I'm now going to recalibrate the Yluminite to power up the warp-hop drives we have. Everything has already been calculated, the only thing we'll be leaving behind is that alien craft the Master Chief arrived on…win this war, sir."

The signal cut off- and a deep rumble was heard all throughout the ship.

The Chief grabbed onto a table, and the ship began to shake violently. The fabric of space was torn, and needle-like holes tore through the flagship and its fleet of smaller ships, which were then were violently sucked into the swirling portal which manifested from the inside of the flagship, ending at the tips of the Nareesi fleet. The fleet disappeared, leaving the insectoid fleet victorious. The energy being rushed and transferred to the reactors sent out massive surges of searing heat and molecular-disassembling energy. Ghrvey blissfully pushed a few buttons and pulled a lever as the orange tide of death smashed into him and erased him from existence, his matter being recycled through these energy waves to exit into space.

Cheers of happiness went through the insectoid fleet, and the Hive-King exhaled silently, in relief. His wife seemed a bit angry, partly because her "assailant" had escaped with his life. She quickly left the room and ordered a tall and lean guard to accompany her. Leaving the observatory area of the bridge, she headed to her private chamber and unrobed, with the flustered guard still in the room with her. She then began to make love to the willing guard, attempting to drown her troubles away with passionate sex she refused to give her silly husband.

(We've won today, but this is only one victory in a 20 year long war of attrition…where's my wife gone off to?) the Hive-King asked. He stood up, quizzingly looking at everyone. No one dare answer, all instead turning to look at the unguarded checkpoint nearest to the exit of the bridge, which connected to the hallway which housed the residential chambers. From the louder-than-usual whispers among his court of officers and crewmen, he suddenly understood, sat back down in his chair feeling humiliated and disrespected. He viciously ordered his men to get the fleet back to a safer location, while also giving dirty looks to anyone who cowered under his icy glare.

He commanded his crew to track the location of the Nareesi warp-hop.

"Go forth my fleet- carry on and eliminate them! _Make them regret the day they spilled our race's blood_."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Setting down, settling in

The diplomacy party sent in via spirit had docked with the _Levine's Ring_. There was still no response back yet, however The Arbiter could see the significantly smaller UNSC fleet shift positions and move around. The Arbiter had requested for a video-com conference as soon as the diplomacy party had sent word back. It was a long wait, and tensions were high. This was the only meeting after the war where Sangheili had met the humans in space.

"Launch fighters, I want those ships to set up a territory line, but do not engage the other vessels." Thel ordered. He was about to hail the prophet when the diplomacy team responded back, the frantic voice of a Sangheili soldier was heard,

"My Arbiter. Our vessel lost all power when we reached the human ships. We don't believe they used an energy dampener on us. They towed us into a hangar bay, it seems their engines are working fine. My team is getting restless, many of us believe the humans deactivated the spirit."

Rtas stood up and strode over to The Arbiter, as he lay in his chair, hand up to his bottom mandibles.

"So you have successfully entered one of their vessels?" Rtas asked.

"Yes." The elite answered.

Rtas looked up at his friend. Thel seemed to be deep in thought, his hard eyes locked onto the communications terminal.

"My Arbiter…should we …inform the prophet?" Rtas asked. The Arbiter grunted and stood up from his grand seat.

"Inform his shipmaster that our diplomacy team has successfully made contact. I want a phantom ready to ship me over there. I don't feel right, having mere soldiers doing a job as precious as this."

As The Arbiter walked away, Rtas spoke calmly,

"Aren't we all soldiers?"

The Arbiter laughed a bit at his friend's comment. He walked out the bridge door, greeting his honor-guards who were standing at attention with their spears.

…

The spirit was hauled in by two pelicans, the aircraft dragging it in with thick cables that were fed from a belt out of the back of the pelicans, from their holding bay. They each slowed to a halt as they entered the frigate's hangar. Touching down, the spirit landed a bit too roughly onto the floor. Fire teams slowly approached and began to set up a working-area at the spirit's zone. The two drop-doors of the spirit flung open and smashed downwards. Immediately, the marines pointed their guns at the aliens that jumped out. The opposition did the same. Everyone was tense, until the captain of the _Levine _walked in, flanked by a group of marines. Someone cocked their shotgun, and the captain glared at the woman. She eased back a bit, but kept her barrel pointed at a jackal's face. An elite major, clad in decal-ed crimson armor, stepped forwards. He bowed when the captain greeted him. They both stared at each other for awhile, each with half-threatening and awkward looks. The captain then leaned forwards, and outstretched a hand, a sour taste in his mouth. The major looked at the hand, and then after a moment grabbed it and shook his with the captain's, his fingers reaching up the human's wrist and fore-arm.

"Welcome to the _Levine_. I'm captain Jakoby Hartlow. I was briefed that you lose power while coming here, we already have communications set up with your fleet, they're just not answering to us. Might want to inform your leader that we're friendly." Jakoby spoke. He was 5'10'' and quite hardy. He looked old though, very "captainy" if you'd want to describe him. His hearty voice helped add to his character, it was like talking to an old submarine commander back in the 20th century. Captain Hartlow conversed with the major for a few moments before he spun around and belted,

"Ladies and gentlemen! This is Sangheili major Rurik'Jar. He's been sent here as a diplomat from the other fleet. Shakespeare, radio Walker and tell him we're not going to get our asses shot off."

A bright purple AI popped up from a small screen attached to the wall of the hangar, it was a representation of what we believed William Shakespeare looked like, complete with frilled leotard and pointed shoes. Everyone around the deck dropped their guard and breathed a sigh of relief. The major returned to his ship, and ordered his few men and woman to try and unload whatever they needed from the ship, it came with standard survival gear and forward-operating camp equipment. The captain ordered for everyone to return to their activities, but as a "with all due respect" tone, he requested the diplomacy team to stay in the hangar, however if they needed anything they were free to wander the ship. Jakoby volunteered to house these diplomats after the message was sent from The Arbiter's fleet, and he feared the consequences if this entire event flopped.

…

"Captain?" the small AI boy asked. Walker awoke from his sleepy daze and looked around the bridge for a moment. It had been an hour since the diplomacy party arrived. Most of the crew had left the bridge, it was just Walker, a few crewmen and Wright. Everyone sighed in relief when the _Levine _reported in. The prowler had uncloaked, and retreated to friendly space in that time.

"Yes?" Walker wearily replied. He had been up and about for a long time. Civilian colonization effort reports were keeping him up, and he was trying to mask the massive fleet of ships in space from the Civies down below. No use scaring the crap out of them now, especially since they're refugees also. He shook his head side to side rapidly, trying to wake himself up. It worked for a small bit..

"Sir, reports from the diplomacy party say that The Arbiter is in charge of the fleet over there. When we asked, we had an reply telling us that a prophet was in charge of one part, and The Arbiter of the other. As of right now we know that there is two leaders over there, and cooperation is going well between the prophet and the Sangheili leader."

"A prophet?! What's the news on this prophet?" Walker sternly asked, prophets usually meant bad news.

"I'll have to verify that, sir. We do know that The Arbiter is on his way to the _Levine_." Wright responded.

Walker ran to the holo-table to look for the blip of the Arbiter's gunboat phantom. There was a small ship moving towards one of his frigates.

"Wright, tell the Levine that the _Arctic Warmth _is the Arbiter's destination, not Hartlow's own ship. I want the elite here."

"Affirmative." Wright responded, giggling as he said it. The destroyer sped forwards, closing the gap between itself and the phantom. The phantom gunboat seemed to be at a complete loss, and it retreated a bit. Walker himself got on communication and linked himself with the communications channel of the Phantom, a new feature UNSC got from their elite allies after the truce, the authorization to enter Sangheili communications networks and channels.

"Arbiter, this is fleet commander Lance Walker of the UNSC destroyer _Arctic Warmth_, and commander of this fleet. I'm terribly sorry for the intrusion, but I insist you dock with us here. I don't think communication will work that well with you not being on the other party's flagship. I also have some questions for you." Walker quickly spoke.

The phantom seemed to start moving in bursts now, until it eventually began to drift. A broken transmission was the response back to Walker, who then quickly ordered a few pelicans to reel it in, double time. It took half an hour for the phantom to limp into a hangar bay, where Walker was waiting for it. Finally the pelicans dropped the cargo and flew off to another hangar bay. The phantom's doors opened up after some cutting and out walked a whole group of honor guards and The Arbiter himself. He approached Walker, and towered over the man. They too shook hands and greeted each other, ignoring the plethora of watchful eyes.

"Sorry for the slight change of plans. If you'd like to walk with me to the bridge, we can converse in a much more appropriate setting." Walker said, gesturing to the cluttered hangar bay. The Arbiter nodded and the two walked out of the room, accompanied by the honor-guards and a few uniformed marines.

…

The Chief locked his boots to the ground of the bridge, as the violent warp-hop left everything in shambles. Quo'tunn had stood perfectly still, hand on his blade- as the shock of the warp-hop crashed through the bridge. He surprisingly wasn't even affected by it. A console even exploded from the massive power surge that returned to the other areas of the ship after it was all rerouted to the engines. Everything was running on Yluminite, and everything was affected by the unbalanced power surges rippling through the ship. The other vessels of the fleet drifted away and began to organize themselves instead of just hugging the flagship. The Chief felt drained. He was struggling to hold himself up on the table he was leaning over. Quo'tunn came over to him and helped steady the spartan.

"Still alive alien?" Quo'tunn coolly asked. The Chief patted himself a bit, just to get his bearings. He spun his head and cocked his visor at the Nareesi. Quo'tunn's face looked a bit solemn, but it remained strong.

"Chief?" Cortana harshly whispered.

"I'm here. Are you ok?" The Chief replied, comforting her somewhat. She seemed to be whimpering in his suit.

"…Cortana?" he asked a little more intensely.

"I'M FINE."

John could see her change color and change her stance as she scolded him. She then quickly reverted to her old form and looked incredibly guilty and sorry. She even put her hands to her mouth, and her eyes were wide.

"Was that…?"

"_It's happening_."

"We can fix that. We can get back to Dr. Halsey, she can fix you." The Chief frantically stammered out. He fell to the floor and then gingerly put his hands to his helmet. He removed it, and leaned back just as it popped off. He darkness of the corner he was near masked his face, so the Nareesi couldn't make it out. The Chief looked into his helmet's visor, and he imagined Cortana's face looking back, before she turned away. He tussled his own recently grown hair, and then put the helmet back on back on. It was after that, that he completely fell unconscious and slumped, a massive wave of exhaustion going through him. Cotton ordered his crew to take the Chief and haul him to a recuperation chamber.

"Sir!" they replied. The group picked up The Chief by his arms and legs and carried him away to a floating stretcher, where they laid the Spartan down onto it. Through his sleepy haze, he would slightly wake up and see the bright white ceiling, and hear voices.

"It's brain-wave activity is going crazy!"

"We need to stabilize it's thoughts, the exhaustion is getting to it, maybe a side effect from the teleportation?"

"Hook it up to the avatar machine, maybe we can have it exist in the digital world as it's body rests. I heard it single-handely escaped from the enemy flagship."

"How do we get this suit off?"

"How long has it been in there?"

"Use the industrial drills, we can unscrew the suit that way, maybe even cut him out of it."

"Uh oh."

"Check his heartbeat and breathing!"

"Hurry it up!"

"…_John_."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: The good Doctor and his Wife

...

Stalin awoke briskly. Like a specter, he arose from his bed and prepared for the day. He had only gotten a few hours of sleep, but shut-eye was shut-eye, and it had alleviated some weariness from his form. Dressing himself, he skipped going to the cafeteria for breakfast and walked right towards the bridge. The cruiser he commanded was floating above the high hills and plains of the shield world. It floated, remaining steady and stagnant- while various aircraft fluttered about from the ship to the ground. Finally, a pelican flew down and dropped off a large group of troopers and some men or woman dressed in white coats. The group rapidly got off as albatross's and cargo-darters flew about, dropping off large crates and equipment.

"Jeez, I hope to God one of these fucking crates doesn't crush those geeks. We'd have to go back to Stalin's wonderland." a marine said, gesturing to the UNSC ship above. An air pad and tower had been set up on a flat hill, and a pelican landed onto a pad, opening it's rear hatch and unloading a squad of soldiers. They double-timed over to a small barracks, almost getting splattered by a warthog that swerved around the crates and people in order to get to the vehicle depot. As you looked around, ignoring the bustling folk and the machinery, you would see this monolith of a metal base, fit for a siege. It was currently locked down, but the auto-turrets and communications arrays were all alive. People would get aboard the base and walk over to the other side in order to check out the new shipments brought in from the cruiser. The massive base overlooked the landing area, relays buzzing as info was repeatedly transferred with Stalin's cruiser.

Back on the ship, Stalin was seated in his captain's chair and he stared out onto the Forerunner world. To his left were massive ice peaks, where the other cruiser had gone to. A far way off was the hole where his ships emerged from, the Destroyer was still stationed there.

"Attention all hands…this is your captain speaking. Fireteams Octavia and Mobile, please fall in and report to sergeant major Kelsey. She'll take over your Spartans. Meanwhile, I want my hangars free of clutter. Hugh, handle the deck operations." Stalin commanded as he turned away from the console. As he turned away and stood, from the console came the sapphire AI mountain man from the 1800's known as Hugh Glass. The bearded and fierce man had a long musket propped up against his shoulder to his neck, and he spit some digital saliva onto the non-existing floor.

"My pleasure sir." he drawled out. The mountain man then disappeared from the console. Stalin leaned back in his chair, ordered a crewmen to fetch the bridge some drinks- and he lazed back to enjoy the slow and peaceful process of setting up. It was only when the coffee had been served, and the peace returned- that Stalin bolted out of his chair and read the reports coming in from the scouting warthogs.

"My god…Hugh move the ship to these coordinates. Now!" he bellowed.

"What of the men on the surface, sir?" the AI questioned.

"Order Kelsey to take Octavia down there. Lock that place down, tell them we'll be back. Mobile stays here with us."

"Yessir." the fur trapper replied.

…

"What? We're leaving?! Ah, where the hell is this expedition taking us now?"

"Doctor. The good captain only wishes to explore the planet, which is our objective. We 'left' the colonials on the other side of the shield, and they didn't complain."

"Well excuse me for not informing the colonials, that they were living on a planet created by aliens."

Doctor Fitzgerald spun around and grabbed his white coat from it's sloppy rack. Briskly putting it on, he grabbed the neat crate of information he had gathered in the span of a few days- and headed off. Sergeant major Kelsey had just out-fitted the Spartan-IV fireteam Octavia with heavy-assault armor. Decked out with this new, heavy, and extremely expensive armor, the titans were now juggernauts. The Doctor calmly and quietly walked to the group, just as Kelsey finished delivering her speech.

"Alright Octavia, reports show that a massive fleet of what appears to be Covenant forces have arrived right where we were a few days ago, God bless Captain Walker and his measly fleet if they haven't been obliterated yet. Octavia, you and I are being sent down to Firebase Julius. Hopefully the Covies, if they choose to come, will ignore us or not even notice us. If they do- then we'll give them a fight that'll be remembered forever. Oorah!" the woman yelled. Octavia did the same, and they clambered off to their pelican. A few companies of marines were also being sent down to bolster the bases defenses. Doctor Fitzgerald then approached Kelsey.

"Woah there doc! Learn some manners why don't you?" she joked from behind her visor. The tiny slit of vision, a verdant visor, stared right at him. The Doctor smiled, and he thrust his intel crate right into her armored hands. Gauntlets rubbing against the titanium-alloy box.

"Jeez, I could kill someone with this doc. Whats the matter with this intel?" the woman asked. Fitzgerald looked around, like he was trying to find something- only to whip his head back to her, making her tilt her head a bit.

"That's very delicate stuff sergeant major. Don't let it fall into the wrong hands. And with the sudden change of plans Stalin's ordered, expect more of those boxes." he smiled warmly, but walked off just as quick as he'd come- back to the Lab where his companion from earlier was arguing with him.

Jan is a female android with a mechanical brain crafted by Fitzgerald himself. The android was only partially built, hung up on the wall with various wires and cables running into her. It was naked, you could say. There was a silver colored and chrome outer-shell covering up the artificial and far from perfect bio-technical components inside. Her body was modeled after Fitzgeralds own wife, now deceased. The android was frightening, with half an arm missing and some parts of her body opened up and exposed, wires and components and all. The worst part was her incomplete face. There was no face to speak of, just a light-pink skin-like cover that molded with the contours of the head's shape, her green-iris'ed eyes looking past the film over it, and her lips forming empty smiles. She would spin her head a bit slowly whenever someone entered the labs, but she greeted them warmly despite her cold face.

"Hello again Doctor!" she said, her slightly robotic voice contrasting against the feminine vocal processors Fitzgerald installed into her.

"Hello Jan."

"Good to see you honey!"

"Good to see you too sweetie."

Jan's artificial personality was a bit like Fitzgerald's own wife, however she was independently evolving much to Fitzgerald's surprise. For her to grow properly, he needed to modify her to behave like his wife from birth, and with her advanced learning she was now right where he wanted her to be…it wouldn't be long before she forgot who she was based off of, and went to live as a personality she created by herself. The thought unnerved Fitzgerald, but he knew this would happen one day or another- and he'd be there to support this new entity to the world. But for now…it was good to talk to his wife again, sharing memories and moments, no doubt the new entity would remember all by entering the recordings of it's time since it was commissioned and confront Fitzgerald about it.

Fitzgerald opened the steel shuttered observation windows in his lab, and light streamed in. His blue and dark lab sprang to life with colors as the liquids shined in different colors, while solid objects reflected light or glowed as bright as stars. He smiled. He called this, "Waking the Lab." Sitting in his chair, Fitzgerald smiled once again at his android- she blankly looked back. His communications terminal then buzzed, and he answered it.

"Doctor, this is Stalin. Brace yourself, we're going to go full speed to the coordinates given by the scouting team. Their report is…just brace yourself."

The massive burst of speed left the Doctor flying to the floor. The in-atmosphere jump was shaking everything. Grabbing onto his bolted down desk, he waited until the jump was done. In a few minutes of wild flying, the cruiser finally made it to the scorched earth where the warthogs reported seeing large metal infrastructure.

"Oh God…what the hell happened here?"

He looked out and saw an enormous colony ship floating above the rocky cliff's below. Magnificent bases had been erected on the rocky plateaus, and cliffs. Aircraft activity was near non-existent, however. The massive ship was snuggly was nestled into it's roost. One side was significantly damaged, as if it had crashed into something and that entire side was torn off. Stalin ordered Hugh to go for an onboard vessel history of the obviously human colony warship below. Hugh returned to answer a few moments later,

"The UNSC _Spirit of Fire_. Labeled, 'Lost with all hands' in 2531...that's about 25 years ago, sir.

Stalin had heard the tales, that the _Spirit _had gone missing and was never heard from again- but he didn't know that it had landed here, of all things! Did NavCom even know about this?

"25 years, huh? Alright, let's see if anyone's awake."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Forever

...

The Chief was dreaming. He rarely slept, but when he did it was a rough sleep. Memories…that's all they were. The times with Blue Team, the nightmares of The Flood, and the men and woman who assisted The Chief in his endgame only to die a cruel and quick death.

"Inject them in."

"What if it rejects them?"

"Just do it, quickly!"

_Relief_.

The cold and chilling sensation traveled from his spine, up his back and neck to his searing head. The Chief relaxed while he dreamt. The dark and gloomy atmosphere he was in turned to a bright green grid-world of energy. The Chief formed then. He saw himself sprout from the ground in his armor- perfect to every little detail. Looking at his hands through his own eyes…in his dream- The Chief outstretched them towards the ground and felt it. It was warm, and a small humming went through his gloved hands and ended at his elbow. He pulled away and a small flash of bright yellow sparks would fly off. They were noiseless though, and the Chief felt that even if they did somehow touch his bare skin- they wouldn't harm him anyways. He was on a hill, with a beach to his front and a canyon to his back. In between was a river, with a waterfall as it's source, feeding itself to the ocean. A massive wall was to his left, along with some very large rocks. To his right was the darkened and chilly peaks of mountain, a sheer wall of untouched rock at it's foot. Silence, quiet, and a relaxing monotonous humming beneath his boots. Sunshine, the gleams of it off the wall and onto the grassy clearings and river water looked so gorgeous. The small, puffy white clouds perfected the clear-blue sky. There was something off about this place, something familiar yet new.

The Chief ignored the faint voices he heard that appeared to be coming from the sky. He walked and walked, with no destination in mind, exploring this environment. When he arrived at the wall, he stood in the center and looked to himself. He was still in his armor. Suddenly, the mjolnir armor equipment machine sprouted up from the ground and began to move. Then the faint voices arrived again.

"Woah! What the-?"

"There's something in the system. It's taking it over! We don't know the source."

The voices continued to call out, annoying The Chief yet also perplexing him. He looked down to his hands again, seeing the sunlight glint off of his drab olive colored gauntlets. The voices then ceased to exist. The Chief spun around, ignoring the machine only to bump into someone a few feet shorter than himself. He looked down, and his visor caught the playful smirk of the blue woman. She then jabbed a finger at The Chief, and the force pushed him backwards, surprisingly.

"The rampancy, it's...gone, when I'm inside of this machine!" the woman happily cried out, shaking her head in disbelief while beaming.

"Cortana? That's…good. Where are we?" The Chief asked.

Cortana looked curiously to the machine, and then to John. She then looked to herself, and shut her eyes. The chief backed away as these explosions of green went all over Cortana's body, and from the mist she stepped out. Her skin was peachy pink, and the coding on her body had changed to accommodate her new skin color, the darker pink areas of her body still shifting from blue to her new Caucasian skin tone.

"What do you think?" the naked woman laughed.

"How did you do that?" John asked, his eyes going up her small feet, to her closed legs, to her bosom, and then to her bright face.

"Let's go, your turn." she quipped. Grabbing his hand with a surprising strength, he ignored the shock of her ability to touch him and clanked after her, only to stop when he saw her destination. The machine looked to him, the technology halting his steps and forcing him to question her motives.

"Get in it." she commanded. Her gray-blue eyes sent a warmth through the Chief's body. John contemplated the decision, before he slowly put his hands and legs into the machine's ring and let the machine's limbs connect with his mjolnir suit. By unknown forces, the machine began to operate itself, and The Chief relaxed as he felt the screws twist and turn and his armor loosen up. The clamps hissed, the wires reared, and the screws twisted with a metallic sound as the mjolnir armor was wrenched free.

"Cortana, what's your location?" The Chief asked, noticing her absence. With all the pieces now off, he fell out and looked down to his body, the black suit he wore sticking onto his skin. Walking forwards, he went to the riverbank going to the two rocks which formed a jump over the river, and saw her lying down on the gray rock, letting the sun shine onto her body. Her eyes were closed and she looked so peaceful.

"Ugh, this isn't comfortable at all...I want to go into the water." Cortana suddenly announced. The Chief watched as she stood up and ran over to the river, laughing loudly when the cold water touched her bare feet and legs. Going into the river, she let her hair fall into the water, drenching her blonde head. Giddily laughing, she flung her head to of the water and splashed The Chief with water.

"Come on in!" she encouraged. He took a step into the river and stayed stil, feeling the cold against his suit and ejoying the cool feeling. Turning around and putting her arms out, Cortana loudly cheered a victorious yell.

"I feel ALIVE!"

The Chief noticed the roundness of her bottom, the shape of her slender legs and her thin back, the way her fingers were all outstretched as she formed a cross with her naked body. She slowly turned her head to look at The Chief, a wide gray-blue eye locking onto John's pale face.

"Hmm. Let's get some color in you." she thought aloud. In an instant, green explosions covered all of John's body, and he nervously put his arms to his face to block out the booms. When he looked to his hands though, he saw how darker his fingers were. His suit was gone, and instead of an alien-pale body there was a richly creamy Caucasian color tone.

"H-how di-?"

Cortana was now standing in front of The Chief, her dark-pink nipples hard, with her exposed breast and glistening body out to show. She looked like she was craving something, and The Chief had a small feeling he knew what it was. Coming closer, Cortana put her hands to his bare chest and leaned upwards to close her mouth to his. The kiss was strange for him. He felt uncomfortable, but if Cortana was enjoying it, why couldn't he? Attempting to kiss back, the both of them held that kiss for a long time, until Cortana pulled away and smiled, looking as if she had fallen in love. Slightly panting, she hugged him and whispered,

"You have no idea, how long I've wanted to do that."

He raised an arm and hugged her in return, enjoying the sun on his back and her warm body against his.

"What's wrong now?" John asked, his incredible voice intoxicating to her mind.

"I love you, John. I always have, ever since I figured out what love was." she cried. He was surprised. Backing away from her, The Chief solemnly spoke,

"I'm sorry, I'm not so sure I can even-"

She cut him off with quick whisper,

"_Those thyroid gland implants have been removed_. See for yourself, John."

John looked down and then seemed to grunt as the warm energy of sex traveled through his loins and his mind, his eyes shutting as a rush of emotions anf sensations swirled around inside of him like a tornado. Cortana chuckled for a moment, before looking down in awe at The Chief. He stared down at her hairless folds with wide-eyes, and then looked to his own bush. Leading him to the sunny patch of grass near the wall, Cortana laid down onto the ground and spread her legs, exposing her mound to The Chief, smiling as she cupped her breasts with her hands. The mischevious look she gave to The Chief sent nervous energy and excitement trhough him. He slowly came down onto her body, and kissed her intensely. His calloused hands explored over her soft skin, and picked up one of her legs, licking down her thigh over to her folds. Shuddering, she gasped when his mouth found her and she began to make small lustful noises as he invaded her insides with his hot tongue, the other hand gripping his erect cock and stimulating it. She drove his face down onto her slit, shuddering as he lapped at the wet fluids dribbling out of her pink vagina. Mumbling to ehrself, she relaxed and spasmed, John pulling away and kissing her naval region, his tongue inside of ehr belly button or on her abdomen as she shook in ecstasy. Panting, she looked to John, who's eyes were closed and face flushed in lust.

"Let's go, now." Cortana commanded. John looked up to her, and her heart melted in love.

…

John thrust his erect member into Cortana with a quick forward shove from his pelvic region. He grunted and then held the last syllable as the pleasure surged through him. Her insides expanded to fit his girth, and she moaned, eyes upwards in joy and pleasure. John had his hands on her arms, her legs were spread out underneath him as his cock slid into and out of her tight tunnel, two finger spressing down onto her engorged bean. The hot folds stimulated his cock with their rythmatic rubbing, and the constant friction was urging John to move faster and breathe harder. His loose testicles impacted against her plump ass, and she was struggling to cope with her newfound sexual pleasure. John kissed a nipple and began to suck the tender breast, causing Cortana to wail out in ecstasy and drive her back into the grass.

Cortana repeated her loving phrases of encouragement to The Chief, pulling him in close and gripping his back with her fingers. Soon after, when his thrusting was forcing her body to curl up and her legs to bounce about with his force, she shouted out and squirted once again, clenching her insides and moaning. Cortana orgasmed with a violent shiver of her sexy body, and the hot liquids running down her thighs and onto her butt were lubricating John's pushing and tugging. He wanted this to last, but the slick environment was pressuring him into release with every thrust, her vagina was slurping and sucking him inside of her, his lengthy cock drowning her in pleasure while she shot a shower of pleasure all over his erection. John's head would touch her cervix and then retreat, his thick girth rubbing against her walls. His dick felt tightly caressed and hugged, and Cortana was squeezing him inside of her. John clenched his teeth and fucked his first woman with a deranged passion. His hips actually moved so hard that Cortana was being pushed backwards up the grass, so much that she surrendered his broad back and clutched the earth, eyes shut and mouth open. She orgasmed again and again, then went limp, crying out curses and moans as John still fucked her. John's balls churned and his stomach tightened a bit. Hugging Cortana, he came hard. Her arms and legs were at either side of him, and her breasts popped up to his chin. As he ejaculated another load, Cortana began to cry. Tears streamed down her chest and onto John's. He hugged her harder as the last of his load spurted out of his cock's head, the thick string of potent semen entering her fertile pussy and impregnating her digital eggs. Transparent and milky white juices oozed out of Cortana's vagina as she wrapped ehr legs around his waist. After a moment of staying connected and catching their breath, Cortana vanished and then reappeared behind John.

"My turn."

Flipping him on his back, Cortana messed with his digital anatomy and filled his balls with semen. John yelled slightly in agony. His dick sprouted back up like a blown balloon, and it's slippery surface was greeted by Cortana's vagina. Her bare back was to him, but she looked back to him from the corner of her eyes, watching as his face looked so intent on the pleasure he was experiencing. She rode his cock roughly, putting a hand on the ground and another on her clitoris, masturbating herself as she fucked her love. The muscles of her back flexed and wiggled, and her butt would flatten as it reached John's thatch of dark hair. He put his hands to her waist and bucked upwards, resulting with Cortana trembling from another orgasm. He held her down as his dick twitched and his balls shriveled, gooey ejaculation flying upwards into her slick pussy, her wet hair flying upwards as her head shot back in lust. Water beads flew through the sky, and The Chief sighed in relief, watching as Cortana remained in her pose, her hands coming to her smooth belly to feel her gut, fingers playing with strands of cum leaking out of her pussy. John got up and hugged her back, letting his half-hard cock rest inside of her, smelling her hair and clutching her breasts.

Now resting on the grass, the two looked up at the sky and enjoyed the sun.

"I wish we could do that in real life." she remarked, tracing her hand on his pecs. John yawned and looked over to her, smirking.

"I didn't know you felt that way about me." he admitted. True, the spartan couldn't even comprehend love, and he saw Cortana as an immense friend, trustworthy and loyal and precious. She saw him as that too, and much more.

Getting up, Cortana stepped over his body and lowered her cunt over his face. John looked up to her face in surprise, and he could barely reply when her sticky bottom came down onto his face. The sun had warmed her body, and seeing how she had been lying down on her front, the warmth of her bottom was comforting to John's face. Like a hot towel, he pushed her cheeks together and let his tongue sticking straight up, penetrating her sex. Cortana "mhmm'ed" in appreciation, and put her hands onto his belly. She trailed them downwards to his bush, where she found his half-hard member leaning backwards to his pelvis. Cortana sighed in pleasure as his licking intensified, and she bent downwards, her breasts on his belly button, her hard nipples poking his abdominal muscles.

Opening her mouth, she preapred for the salty taste of his cock, and pulled his fore-skin back so her lips could clasp over his head. John jolted, and he gripped Cortana's bottom tighter. She smiled and slid her tongue over and around his senstivie head, letting him harden inside of her mouth. Before long her cheeks were in as she puffed out breaths through her nose and sucked on his shaft, her head going up and down on his member. Cortana's eyes were watering, and John's face was getting hot from the warmth of her on top of him. He was clenching his stomach and flexing his leg muscles as she slowly sucked his cock. When she needed a breath for her new lungs, she would spit out some accumulated saliva and stroke his shaft with both hands, letting her pinkie finger touch his balls with every swift motion of her hands, tightly gripping his cock when she went down and loosening her grip when her hands came up. She felt the pleasurable waves go through her loins and legs, coming up her spine and making her hum in happiness. John was about to ejaculate just from her handjob. His mouth was getting tired, his tongue now lazily working away at her. She squealed after all this time and squirted out more of her juices, John letting his mouth open this time and tasting her sweet/sour fluid on his tongue. Cortana was surprised when John began to cum, her stroking forcing out globby strings of cum. After the first one she quickly bent down and put her mouth over his cock, sucking up the incoming loads of warm semen. John felt light, his mind spinning and heart beating quickly as the intense pleasure came over him. The feeling of her lips on his shaft while ehr tongue scraped against his head as he came urged his balls to boil more. He bucked his hips upwards and Cortana's head retreated back, but she kept her mouth on his cock. Her eyes were closed and her brow was furrowed, and she was stroking his shaft with three of her fingers, letting the cum pile up in her hot mouth. After the last few spittles of semen, she shut her lips tightly and raised her head. Looking to The Chief, she contorted her face into a look of effort and gulped down his cum, flabbergasting John. Panting, she went to the river and began to clean herself, rinsing her mouth and pussy out with the cold, clear water. John joined her, his hands and body on hers as water came down on both of them from handfuls or scoops. Cortana kissed her lover by standing on her tip-toes as he lifted her up.

"That technique...flawless." John commented. Cortana cupped his now shriveling nuts and smiled at him, suddenly her face went into a frenzy. She pulled away from John and began to clutch her head in pain. John went forwards to touch her, but his fingers went right through her body.

She transformed from her human form to a hologram, flickering and fizzing in and out. She was bright green now, and her eyes were pupil-less. Looking to John, she began to scream. The world around them was vanishing bit by bit, and John stepped towards her just as everything turned into the green grid-world from before. Yellow sparks were on the ground as he found himself in his armor, and John began to groan as his brain began to ache. He scrathced at himself with gloved hands, trying to tear the armor off of him. His helmet was firmly clasped over his head, and his sight was beginning to disappear. Suddenly, everything went black.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Friendly faces

The Pheonix-class colony ship was almost a part of the ecosystem it resided in. Apparently, when Stalin sent out patrol teams to contact the bases stationed near the vessel, they all reported the same thing: desolate.

"Hugh…think maybe you hail them?" Stalin asked. He was looking out the bridge's observation window with a hand rested on his chin, and his arm was crossed over his chest, his hand meeting his other arm's elbow. The sunlight from the shield world streamed through the glass. It glinted and reflected light right into Stalin's face emphasizing his brown eyes, however he disregarded it. The whole bridge had stopped what they were doing and crowded around the glass to catch a peak at the "lost" ship.

"I've tried sir…pockets of energy are running throughout the ship. I've scanned it, and most of the vessel has lost power. Looking closer, I've noticed that it's FTL drive is missing."

Stalin abruptly spun around and scared the crewman back to their stations. He grunted out,

"Stolen? Scavenged? How exactly did that happen, Hugh?"

Hugh thought for a moment, before he shrugged in surrender.

"Okay…get Fitzgerald in there. Have him try to figure what the hell happened here. The bases seem to be abandoned, but that doesn't mean hundreds of personnel just upped and disappeared. And if they did…well then we're going to have to figure out how."

…

Fitzgerald said his good-byes to his freaky half-android. She slowly rotated her head sideways, in a very horrific motion- and replied with a mention of good-luck. Outside the lab, Fitzgerald was met with the Spartans from fireteam Mobile. They welcomed the doctor and then escorted him to an awaiting pelican. Boarding it with a giddy face, the pelican flew off to dock inside the _Spirit of Fire_. Stalin saw it fly away and disappear inside the ship. His own cruiser was laying dormant over the jungle-canopy, near the canyons. The _Spirit _was docked in a small crater/valley made of both natural and unnatural geography. Suddenly, Stalin briskly walked away from the observation deck while ordering,

"Hugh! Set up a forwards observations base down there."

…

"_Captain, wake up. Something has happened_."

The same words washed through his mind, getting louder and louder, until it was unbearably booming. Cutter awoke with a chill, the frost still on his eyebrows and nose. The air stung his eyes and sinuses, and he began to cough. Waiting for the door to open by itself, he held his position in the pod, until he finally activated the manual unlock and stumbled out. Regaining his form, Cutter thawed his uniform out by patting himself down, and the warmth returned to his body. The cryo-bay he resided in was still chilly.

_Good, that means we still have power_.

"Serina? What's the situation?"

The smart-AI popped up on a small screen located on the wall of the cryo-bay. It was glossed over by a small bit of frost. Cutter wiped it away and stared at the screen with a "captain's" face. Confident, prepared, and brave. Serina, the blue and slender AI woman that served on the _Spirit_, had her hands at her sides, and she smirked.

"UNSC vessel detected near our position. I did a bit of parking while you were out, had to siphon energy to various location before letting it finally rest here. Else you'd all be dead, and the ship with no power."

Cutter's eyes widened, he quickly went to every pod and began to deactivate them. Crewmembers fell out in a sleepy daze, wearing mostly fatigues. One marine in an undershirt and shorts, rubbed his eyes and yawned loudly before seeing his captain. Cutter give him an annoyed look. His whole form shifted to that of a ready soldier and he saluted the captain. Many other did the same after one announced,

"Officer on deck!"

Cutter let them go and dress themselves from the footlockers, while he slowly walked over to the cryopod near the end of the bay. Fingering in the code, the pod hissed and opened as a young woman fell out into Cutter's arms. He helped her stand and the backed off a bit. Ellen Anders looked at him puzzlingly, and then headed for her "lab" which was the _Spirit's _observation deck converted into a science laboratory. She quickly glanced at a pod labeled, "J. Forge" and seemed to falter in her confident stride. She then recuperated and left the deck with the bustling marines and crewmen. Serina had also been waking up other cargo-bay inhabitants, and Cutter was now fast-walking to the nearest window. He looked through and saw a jungle on one side, and a canyon on the other. The _Spirit _seemed to be docked right in the middle.

"Serina?"

"I had to manually fly each Pod and help construct the bases. They're more of an aesthetic addition. Helps make us look like we're not sleeping on the job."

Cutter started to run through a hallway to an elevator, marines and crewmen were going with him- all marveling at how they had landed on a planet. Cutter would sneak a peek at the planet through the windows when he passed, and he stopped at one, mouth open. His men and woman did the same, before they started cheering in joy. Stalin's cruiser was over there, flying out ships and supplies. The Spirit seemed to be returning to life as the cryo-bay lost power and the energy minimally returned to other aspects of the ship. Mainly lighting and mechanisms. Cutter made it to the bridge and ordered someone to hail the ship.

"What about the skeleton crew Serina? What happened to them?"

The AI appeared on her panel and indifferently said,

"I forced them to enter the cryo-bay. We were losing energy, it was more effective for me to monitor areas and control the flow of power, I didn't want someone to suffocate in a decompressed area."

Cutter read the levels of energy the Spirit had left, which were alarmingly low. He sighed, and then asked whether the hail worked.

"Comms are down sir, the bridge's relays aren't syncing with the tele-communication relays outside. Unless someone goes over there and uses an incredibly long wire to hook the two up…we're silent."

Cutter sighed in anger, but Serina piped up,

"Maybe we won't have to talk to them sir. They seem to be coming to us."

Cutter then saw on the holo-table a blinking yellow dot coming closer and closer to the _Spirit_. He cheered in joy within himself, displaying a smile for his exterior emotions. The crew seemed to be eager, they believed that the _Spirit _would never make it home or reach anything without a slipspace engine.

"Although we won't be able to open hangar shield doors seeing how there's no energy over there. We also can't tell them where to smash their pelican into…and they seem to be coming for the bridge." Serina flatly remarked.

Cutter abruptly walked to the windows. The pelican was flying straight towards the bridge, and at the last second it ascended. A loud _CLUNK_! was heard as the pelican landed right above the bridge. The crew sighed in relief, but Cutter stayed standing and anticipated when the other UNSC would reach the bridge. Serina seemed to be smiling despite her indifferent personality.

"Somebody run to the lab and get Anders in here." Cutter shouted.

"Already here sir!" she panted. Her lab coat was off, and she was in her pants and orange shirt. She was red-faced from the run but mad with anxiousness. She then silently walked to Serina and asked,

"Serina…what year is it?"

The AI was silent for a moment, and then replied:

"2526 or perhaps 2527...not sure. My memories not all that it used to be anymore."

"I thought…AI's deteriorated after 7 years…how're you-"

"I hogged up most of the ship's energy to encase myself within the ship's networks. Don't give me that look, without me awake we wouldn't have even made it here nor docked safely. By partially decommissioning myself, I cloned a copy of myself, more of a virtual intelligence than an artificial one, which woke me every year. You're welcome, captain, by the way. When we arrived here, I officially reinstated myself. It was…excruciatingly boring."

Just then a huge piece of metal smashed through the ceiling and landed on the floor. Anders shrieked and Cutter cringed backwards. There was only darkness through the hole the metal was at before…but then a cable came down, and an armored spartan dropped into the bridge with a magnum pointed at the crew. More spartans came down, and finally a man who looked to be a professor slid down the rope and shouted out,

"Mobile, what's the situ-THEY'RE ALIVE!"

…

The pelican returned carrying Cutter and Anders, along with all of Mobile and Fitzgerald. It docked in the cruiser, and a welcoming party of saluting crewmembers greeted Cutter and Anders as they walked out of the pelican. Anders whispered,

"I could get used to this."

Stalin briskly walked up to Cutter and grabbed his hand. Shaking it with fervor, he smiled,

"It's an absolute honor to meet you captain. I am Admiral Stalin."

Cutter smiled and shook back, his eyes shining with gratefulness that he made contact with other UNSC personnel. The two then let go of each other's hands and parted a bit, allowing each other some space. Cutter began to inspect the hangar. He then addressed Stalin,

"Looks like you keep this place in ship-shape, pardon the pun."

Stalin chuckled and responded,

"I've read about your inspections, my AI pulled up your file…so what's the story?"

Cutter explained about how on Harvest, Anders discovered the covenant were hiding something- so he set out to Arcadia, assisted the civilian evacuation with John Forge. After they went inside a shield world and managed to stop the covenant from activating a massive fleet of Forerunner ships. They also discovered a lethal parasite species, and at the end of their journey they detonated the shield world using their ShawFujikawa slipspace engine…with the unfortunate loss of sergeant Forge. Stalin was baffled.

"The Flood? There'll out there still?!"

Stalin explained how a Forerunner ring-world was discovered and one legendary spartan managed to stop the ring from activating itself and wiping out all the species in the galaxy, with the help of his AI Cortana, fashioned after Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey herself. They then stopped The Flood from spreading, but some time later a ship infected with The Flood made it to Earth where a covenant fleet was attacking a city. The ship managed to infect an entire city, and the same spartan stopped The Flood with the help of the defective Arbiter and his Sangheili separatists. That was the end of The Flood apparently. Cutter was flabbergasted.

"I think I'm going to need a history lesson of the past 20-odd years…so does this mean that the war's-?" he said.

"Over. Peace, has finally come at last. We lost a number of notable men and women during this campaign, as well as the heroic casualties throughout the war."

Cutter's inhaled deeply, and exhaled as if a huge burden had been lifted from his shoulders. He closed his eyes and slightly nodded, turning to Anders who seemed to be trying to hold in a few tears.

"It's about damn time I got some good news."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: The Plan

The Chief woke up to find himself strapped to a what appeared to be a catscan machine in a medical room. He was lying on his back, with wires running into his arms and into his neck. He shifted his body, but groaned when he felt the small needles in his spine. Raising an arm and having the wires fall off of him, he got up painfully. He realized he was out of his armor, still in his skinsuit. A cracked voice then pierced the dead silence,

"You're awake."

The Chief relaxed a bit as he recognized Cortana's voice. She popped up on his head's-up-display, still in her blue AI form. The Chief got up and looked around the room. He steadied himself on the bed he recently laid in and asked,

"How long have I been out? Where am I? What happened?"

Cortana sighed in relief and shortly chortled,

"Phew, that would have been if you remembered."

"What are you saying, Cortana?"

"I'm saying that your armor is over there."

The Chief walked out of the room after donning his mjolnir armor and into the bright hallway. He then started to clank down the hallway looking at the different colored stripes running along the walls or the signs and messages appearing on the holographic bulletin boards, when he made a left turn and ran into a Nareesi. The male stumbled backwards and seemed to whistle in astonishment.

"You're awake?" the thing asked. It had a medical uniform on, a clipboard in his arms.

"Where is Cotton?"

"…Sorry?"

"Where is the captain, I meant."

"He will be right up here soon, redy to converse with you…uh…yeah." the male nervously spoke. He didn't know how to address the Chief, usually the Nareesi would refer to him as "it" or "alien." The Chief had woken up earlier than expected. He retreated to the medical room and remained standing, inspecting tools and devices. The Chief then asked,

"Cortana…what happened up there on the bridge? After we were told about Ghrvey's death?"

Cortana seemed to be painfully taking a silent approach to the question, before she blurted out-

"I can feel myself get weaker and weaker, malfunctioning and…and since AI's literally think themselves to death, my personality is being taken over by my mind and it's random outbursts of thoughts and memories."

John stopped and dropped the scalpels he was inspecting. He looked down, and balled his gloved hands angrily. With desperation in his deep voice, he said,

"We'll get home, one way or another. We'll fix you. Something can be done. Halsey can do something!"

The security decal Quo'tunn had entered the room just as The Chief had his outburst. The group of blue uniformed, dark-blue robed Nareesi seemed to be taken aback. Cortana appeared on the Chief's hand, and he looked down to her as she began to speak,

"Chief, for a short time, in that machine...I don't know if you remember anything but- _arugh_!"

"What's happene-?"

"_You're primary objective? Commander are you a puppet or a spartan_? **Ugngh**!"

"Cortana!"

"It's, it's okay. Ok. It's your call Chief. I'm, with you." she panted.

The Chief let himself be escorted by the security team to the awaiting Quo'tunn, residing in a lounge area, a huge glass screen allowing him to watch his fleet intently. He appeared to be deep in thought, and he was pleasantly surprised when The Chief arrived.

"Up and awake! I had a feeling you were tougher than you looked…and might I say those images the doctors fed me of you without your armor were, frightening."

The Chief understood what he really meant. He knew how morphed his time staying in the suit had made him, yet it was for the good of humanity that he never leave it. He was a spartan, and his suit of armor was something which helped him complete the toughest feats and actions he'd had to do during the war. Quo'tunn stood up and gestured for The Chief to follow. After they walked and small-talked for some time, Quo'tunn led The Chief into a tactical briefing room. Nareesi personnel were lounging about in the chairs. They had black uniforms, and armor on assorted areas of their body. It made the Nareesi military appear to look very rag-tag and loony.

"Spec-ops marines, I'm guessing." Cortana remarked. The Chief took notice of her now mellow tone of voice. Quo'tunn gestured for him to have a seat, and he sat in the front row, in front of holographic tactical-screen that appeared next to him. Cotton put on a high-tech gauntlet, and began fingering in on buttons, or twisting and switching miniature dials and levers. The hologram shifted a few times before it showed a star map. A large green figure was the Nareesi flagship, and the smaller green figures were it's accompanying fleet.

"Alright men and woman. We narrowly escaped a massacre at the hands of the enemy. We should be in the clear, but counting casualties- if they did appear before us, we're likely not going to survive. So we're going to be making a final stand at this planet here. It's called **Targrayun**. Friendly planet, one of the few we actually own with a sufficient defense force. The rest are open to invasion, and since we're the only fleet in this precious sector of space- we're in charge here. And since we're in charge, I'm ordering for the rest of the fleet to go back and defend our homeworld. The flagship will stay here, to defend Targrayun. Questions so far?"

Many of the marines began mumbling and complaining. They stopped lounging and were at attention now. The blood was flowing quicker, and the muscles were twitching with anxiousness at what Quo'tunnwould say next.

"Alright. For the rest of our time, we'll be guarding Targrayun. The massive sky-base of Plymouth will be our staging area for defense of the planet. Most of it is water, with few continents and islands. The miners' of the land's rich Yluminite supply are being ordered to try and dig out the rest of the resource, so we can hopefully have the planet evacuated and have a supply increase of Yluminite…*sigh* One day this war will end. It's not as bloody and hectic as it was 10 years ago. The Hive-King, is someone I have been personally fighting for a long time. He matches wit with wit, and strength with strength. He and I both know we're equals…so until I can best him, with the defense of Targrayun hopefully- he'll understand defeat and maybe sway his subjects and council to end the war." Quo'tunn sighed.

Many of the marines laughed at that, and Quo'tunn responded with a weary chuckle, however The Chief saw that he meant what he said. He took the gauntlet off and was about to dismiss the marines, when a massive rumble shook through the room, and ultimately the ship itself. The radio boomed with emergency signs and warnings. Quo'tunn got on an intercom, punched in the master code and began to voice his words everywhere through the ship.

"Situation? Captain Quo'tunn here!"

A voice responded over the PA system,

"Sir, enemy craft! Port side! The fleet from before!"

Quo'tunn swore and left the intercom. He screamed to the marines in the room,

"Alright, spread out through the ship! Get to the bridge and tell them that we need to reroute power to engines! We're running from this brawl! Off to Targrayun!"

The marines took a moment to stomach what had just happened, but then one ran up and started to go for the elevator located behind the audience chairs, while another four accompanied each other to the bridge. Quo'tunn ordered a large number to stay with him.

"Master Chief, we're putting you somewhere safe. Come with me, we're heading to the storage compartments. There's a panic shelter there which can withstand a brutal offensive breach."

Quo'tunn called the marines and they all moved to the doorway leading out of the room, where Beronic and Murdokk were stationed. The two saluted Quo'tunn and greeted The Chief before the entire group started to head through the large hallways. The party would stumble and fall when a volley of blasts rocked the shields, but other than that- it was a quick walk in the park. Quo'tunn pulled out his saber and handed The Chief his own handgun. He also surrendered up three magazines.

"Breach! Breach!" the voice on the PA system screamed. An explosion erupted to the left of the party, a long ways up front. The air began to be sucked out, and some unfortunate marines who were running near there were sucked out with a shrill scream. The hole was then closed up as a shuttle smashed into it, and the quick-drying adhesive sealant was fired out from the shuttle to block up the breach. The infiltrators then stormed out, cloaking themselves as they fired their guns. The Nareesi fired back, and along with the Master Chief they managed to take out the entire squad after a hectic firefight in this one, cover-less hallway. The boarding craft was still attached to the hull of the ship, and a grenade was tossed in. A large explosion blew the craft away, and since the sealant expanded with the blast- it covered up the hole before more marines could be sucked out.

"We need to move! Alien, you seem to be good at escaping, please find a way out of these halls! Infiltrators are swarming them! We'll stay here, take two men with you."

The Chief coincidently found a panel a few feet up, and he punched it open. He asked for Beronica and Murdokk, and then peeked through the short tunnel. Murdokk and The Chief tore away the wall after weakening it with their guns, and tossed the hot scraps of metal plating to the floor. Beronica swept in and began to traverse the insides of the walls, with a holographic blueprint of the maintenance tunnels coming up from a tech-glove to guide her. She headed back after checking out the tunnel and gestured for her teammates to follow. From behind them came Quo'tunn and his unit, firing away at infiltrators from behind the group.

"Hold them off, we'll clear the tunnels. Seems that the insects found a way into them and are waiting for prey to foolishly dart in." Quo'tunn spat out. His squad and him then went into the dark tunnels, vanishing.

After dispatching the infiltrators, Murdokk and Beronica waited for The Chief to get inside first, where they would then follow.

"Be careful Chief." Cortana quietly warned, sounding all the more glum.

The Chief walked through the dark maintenance halls and ventilation shafts, blood and spent rounds all over the floor. When The Chief caught sight of an insectoid with his body sliced in half, Cortana proposed that Quo'tunn's saber must have done that. The Chief picked up the pace, and began to stumble upon more bodies. Now it was mostly Nareesi, with insectanoid footprints in the blood. John heard a shot, and crawled through the darkness only to smack into an infiltrator. It was about to fire a bullet into a Nareesi's throat that it was holding up by the neck, when John came to the rescue. The female stood up, and thanked John. She then handed him a powerful shotgun, since she was unable to use it because of her wounded arms. The Chief gladly took it, and told her to stay behind his team, which ushered the injured female to them. Going through the passages, he'd fire right into a hidden infiltrator, and leave behind their uncloaked and twitching corpse for Beronica and Murdokk. Finally, The Chief ran out of ammo, but he eventually arrived to Quo'tunn's location. A one-on-one brawl between Quo'tunn and an infiltrator was occurring, the former coming out victorious. Quo'tunn dodged a punch and rolled in between the thing's legs, before using his saber to stab the infiltrator upwards. It grasped for anything around it, but it then slumped over and fell with a heavy thud. Quo'tunn sheathed his saber and took the female off of Murdokk's and Beronica's hands.

"I lost all of my men. According to the map, we're almost there." he grunted.

After a few limps and strides, The Chief punched through a panel and led Quo'tunn and the others through. Quo'tunn walked over to a door hidden behind some large crates. With the help of The Chief, he pushed them off and they walked in. Cotton showed John how this room over-looked the large area which served as a link between the ship's bow and some of it's mid-section. The flagships' reactors had sufficiently cooled down after that intense warp-hop to now go full speed to Targrayun. The infiltrators were pulling back after some barbaric marine repulsion tactics, and the flagship was cleared. Quo'tunn was advised to stay in his location until an escort party arrived, so he could make it back to the bridge where he belonged.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Negotiations

…

"You've noticed how they eat like slobs?"

"What the hell do you expect? They have no lips!"

"Nah, I think they do…well sort of, it's all jaw, mandible for the croc's case...what do their rations taste like?"

The two hangar workmen were just standing near some boxes near the back of the hangar, abiding their time by commenting on the diplomatic party. One of the crewmen was a lady in her early 30s. She had dark-brown hair and a cream colored brown eye, with average build. She was a Caucasian, with a slightly dark shade in her skin's pigmentation. She was a pretty woman with charisma. Standing at about 5'10'' she was dwarfed by her friend. He was about 7' and also had an average build. The man was also Caucasian, with black hair and amber eyes. The two were always seen talking and hanging out with each other. A lot of folks even said that they were perfect for each other seeing how they clicked. That was the thing though…they were perfect for each other. They enjoyed the same things and never had anything interesting or truly extraordinary to tell. The click between them was so great, that it was bad. Eventually the two just became friends, much to the relief of both of them. They cared for each other a great deal, and never left each other's side.

"Nathan, that one over there always looks at you when you're working." the woman said, a small bit of distress and intrigue in her voice.

The workman's eyes met the elite female's eyes and the surprised being seemed to slink away. Nathan laughed and turned to Cassidy.

"No thank you." he said, rolling his eyes.

"Beware!" Cassidy joked. Nathan spun around and wiped his forehead. He had gloves on, which helped bond him to the heavy creates, somehow making them easier to lift. Cassidy herself wasn't much for brawn, but she could heft the heaviest of weights without breaking a sweat. She cracked her knuckles, and put her palms on a medium-sized UNSC crate full of gear. Raising it up, she tottered with the thing to a forklift, where it was placed down onto the loading tray. Nathan did the same to a larger crate, except he almost fell and crushed himself. Cassidy came in to help at the last second.

They decided to take another break, no one truly gave a shit what the hangar crew was doing, as long as the deck was cleared before any marines decided to have a fist-fight, then it was all good. There were there to stack things, or carry things. The technicians fixed things, while the engineers repaired any damaged aircraft. Cassidy and Nathan were part of hangar crew 7-7, with plenty of years of service behind them on the _Levine_. They'd been transferred from some other ships only to land in this maniacal frigate with it's jack-in-the-box captain. Jakoby was everyone's favorite though. Cassidy spun around to head back to her relaxation spot, but then screamed in terror. A jackal, standing as high as it could at 6'2'' looked down on her, blinking and rearing it's head down to her face. Nathan ran forward and eyed the thing. The kig-yar was wearing it's combat-harness, but it's shoes were gone. It appeared to be a lightly armored scout, the shield gauntlet still attached to it's arm.

It spun it's massive head over to Rurik'jarr, still clad in power-armor and standing with arms crossed, observing everyone from afar. The major slowly shook his head from side to side, and the jackal snapped at him. It then stepped back, and turned away to walk back. It turned it's head to the right and looked back at Cassidy with a wide and orange eye. Nathan was sighing in relief, until he spun around and loudly asked,

"Now what the hell was that all about?!"

A marine stationed to guard the hangar heard the commotion, and she darted over. Confidently striding over to Nathan, the young womam tightly gripped her shotgun and asked loudly,

"What's the situation?"

Nathan turned around and she melted in her boots. He was handsome, and the confidence left her as she became face-to-face with this stud.

"Yeah, a frickin' jackal just came and scared the crap out of my friend! I think it was trying to start something."

The marine took a second to understand, looking from Natha to Cassidy and back, she blurted out,

"Friend? Not…_girlfriend_?"

Nathan gave her a look of disbelief. He pointed to the cluster of the aliens by the spirit, and asked,

"Hey, what about the fucking jackal?! It's your job to make sure we're safe, especially with _them _here."

Apologizing for her mistake, the spunky marine marched right up to the Rurik'jarr, shoving past the other few Sangheili passing the time by polishing their plasma weaponry or relaxing on the dead spirit's hull. Nathan and Cassidy both stared in shock, and tried to stop her. Fearlessly, she tapped the massive saurian on the back with the barrel of her shotgun. It spun around and stared at her. Then in a surprisingly calm voice, he spoke,

"How may I assist you?" His black eyes locking onto her green iris'. The marine took a moment to stomach this, before she snarled out,

"One of your boys just compromised MY crew."

Nathan shouted,

"Who the hell put you in charge?!"

She seemed to blush, but then craned her neck up to glare at the giant in crimson armor. Rurik'jarr angrily snapped his gaze to the jackal, who seemed to be lounging in an empty covenant supply crate, still eyeing Cassidy. The other two jackals were also near him, Cassidy noticed the segregation between the various post-covenant races,

"One of my men were being reckless. He defied orders, and I will punish him accordingly. I am sorry for the problem."

Rurik'jar thought to himself: _Yes, 'resolve any conflict peacefully' as my Arbiter advised._

The marine nodded her head in acceptance and walked off yelling proudly,

"That's right! You won't mess with MY crew again not while I'M here! Private fist-class Samantha Barnaby!"

Samantha foolishly cocked her shotgun and fired a round into the ceiling. Almost everyone in the large hangar ducked and prepared themselves to run or fight. She realized her mistake, and with a red-face went back to her post, hoping a higher-up wasn't in the hangar to witness her foolish act. She smiled at Nathan and winked at him, but he raised an eyebrow in confusion and spun around to speak with his colleague. Cassidy was having a staring contest with the jackal who had approached her.

"Hey…iron-eye…HEY!"

Cassidy woke up from her daze. She had been examining the jackal, taking in every muscle and sinew it flexed when it moved. It's large head and massive jaws would open so a dark red tongue would come out and slide against it's sharp teeth. Shamefully, she wondered how it'd be like to have that tongue inside of her when Nathan snapped his fingers, startling her.

"Sorry! I think the jackal wants to eat me." she whispered. Nathan turned to aim his orange eyes at the jackal, but the same Sangheili female in minor armor was conversing with it.

The two spoke for a moment before the jackal's gaze went to Nathan. The man backed up a bit in fear, but the elite spun around and it stared at Nathan. It's mandibles were closed shut, and only it's strange eyes seemed to matter. The elite raised a cautious arm and raised it to it's chest, bowing a bit. He waved back hesitantly- and it stiffened up and walked away, the human's eyes wandering down to her voluptuous bottom. Nathan spun around and took his gloves off. He set them down near a small toolbox, and then hopped up on some cargo crates only a machine could lift. Cassidy joined him soon after.

Looking up to the lighting of the hangar bay, you could see how her crème colored eyes gleamed. Nathan had always kept his hardhat on his head, but he flung it off and rested on his palms. Cassidy was kicking the crate when a large _THUMP_! was heard. She slowly spun her head to the left, unaware of the jackal- and then gasped in suprise. It was on it's bare feet, it's head looking down at her. Frightened, she covered her face. Nathan was frozen with shock. The jackal looked around, and then plopped down beside Cassidy, "roosting" there. Nathan calmly stopped trying to grab a screwdriver he could use as a shank, and he then coped with the jackal's presence, also nobody wanted to make any sudden moves. The trio then just sat on the large box and observed the hangar bay. It was only when Samantha fired another round into the air, did the jackal finally scurry off- long and strong legs hopping off of crates and packages to land beside Rurik'jar, who then smacked his underling's large head with a strong hand. It wasn't serious, it was almost like a "stop that!" notion you used on children. Rurik'jar turned his gaze upon Samantha and she ran towards Cassidy.

"What happened? How are you? Did it try anything shifty? Are you hurt?"

She was physically comforting Cassidy but aiming her questions to Nathan. He shrugged and simply said,

"It was just…chilling with us. I think it likes Cassy, or at least is stalking the prey before it strikes." he laughed, baring his fingers as claws.

Cassidy then angrily retorted,

"It's friend, the female diplomat, I saw your awfully long gaze at her from afar, Ethan was it?"

Nathan closed his lips tightly, then jumped down and put his hardhat back on. Cassidy did the same.

"Hey! Ethan!" Samantha pleaded.

Nathan shot her a nasty look, however his ears were getting red. Cassidy smiled in disbelief, her mouth open in shsock as she looked over to the Sangheili males courting the lone female. Samantha stormed off to Rurik'jar. This time a marine officer managed to pry the shotgun away from her as she was about to blow the elite's head off.

"Private Barnaby! I want your ass over to your post ASAP! You've caused enough trouble here already, damnit! Get yer' shit together, girl."

She stalked off, obediently. After some time, she snuck a glance around and quickly walked over to the Sangheili.

"HEY! Buddy. I thought you said the jackal issue was resolved! I have MY crew getting jeepers-creepers when that thing jumps on them! Let's keep things organized, you keep to yourselves and we'll keep to ourselves." She jabbed a finger right at the elite major as the aliens around him growled at her, the kig-yar snapping their jaws at the human.

Rurik'jar grabbed her hand when she tried to jab him again. Samantha whimpered a bit, her green eyes looking up at him. Flinging her hand away, he stepped back as she spun around and bumped into the spirit. Samantha continued on,

"What's the deal bub?! You should just put a leash on that thing and maybe even yourself-"

"Please, pardon my behavior." he said with husky growl. Samantha cringed in disgust.

"Sorry buddy, but I'm not into- Guys! Like! YOU!" and she pushed past him. As she sped away, Rurik'jar peeked at her bottom, but was disappointed to see her uniform's plating and pouches there. His other Sangheili were too focused on the female, whom he too did eye up during the flight here. The jackals were sent as reinforcements, effective on a ship because of their quick moves and fighting tactics, even more dangerous when led by a capable elite commander. Rurik'jar closed up his mandibles and walked away to the cockpit of the spirit, speaking with the pilot to check the status of the spirit's systems.

…

"Excuse me! Hey! You there?" Nathan exclaimed. The hangar was fairly empty now of crew or soldiers. Samantha still guarded the doorm looking very bored yet careful, her eyes glaring at the spirit in the hangar bay. Samantha's thought were with the hunky heavy-lifter with heart-catching orange eyes, however. Cassidy seemed to be a small problem, however they acted more like brother and sister than a couple. Nathan would be caught kissing her lightly on the cheek or neck, and that would take her breath away in envy. The aliens were pretty much dozing now, UNSC cots provided to alleviate their hard sleeping areas. The crimson armored elite finally took his armor off to sleep, after a long while of standing up and glaring at people, waiting for the more news of the situation the fleets were in. The combat harness fell off to reveal his bare, dark-brown chest. The tight suits the Sangheili wore felt uncomfortable to him, so he neglected to wear one. However the scars on his exposed arms showed where his negligence came back to bite him in the ass. His skin was leathery, and his mouth was relaxed, displaying his fearsome teeth from his open mandibles. He jumped up on a crate and then sat in the shadows, watching the few humans remaining walk around. He then spotted Samantha near the door, standing at attention, looking incredibly bored. He silently moved across the shadows, just watching her as the cool air touched his bare chest and legs, making him feel like a predator in the night as he stalked along the wall, trying to avoid any human eyes.

Cassidy had gone to the cafeteria for a meal, Nathan choosing to stay in the hangar. As she was returning to her working area, she passed Samantha and greeted her. Samantha half-heartedly greeted her, followed by a question of where Nathan was. Cassidy was clueless, she didn't see him at the crates. Samantha got up and began to walk to the green spirit with fierce eyes. Nathan however, had tracked down the female elite and was mingling with her.

"Hey…so uh…I heard you've been sent here from The Arbiter himself?" She was taller than he was, but slimmer and more shapely than his stocky build. Her skin wasn't pale and scaly, it was a glossy black, a darker version of the usual gray females Sangheilios possessed. When Nathan approached her, she trembled a bit- but then calmed down once he began to talk to her. In a feminine voice she replied,

"It was quite the honor." Her eyes were to the ground, mandibles closed up and hands at her sides. Nathan reached over and looked into her yellow eyes with his own orange ones. She was very shy, and Nathan seemed to enjoy her behavior in this moment. There was something…_right _about her. Every small thing she seemed to do seemed right, and this plus her incredibly body was completely overtaking his sexual drive, her legs however were creeping him out as they bent in the opposite direction a primate's did, a small hoof foot connected to each ankle. Nathan surprisingly yelped a bit when her alien hand came to his chest.

"I seem to take a liking to you, human. You just...this is so unorthodox, but I am attracted to you as a mate. Are you sharing the same feeling?" she spoke. Her hair was black, coming up in a fashion so her helmet could flatten it down without causing any irritation.

"Um...yeah, I guess so. My name is Nathan."

"I am Eliz'z."

Nathan then bravely brought his mouth up to her mouth and began to kiss it after he coyly smiled back, experimenting with a stiff lip then softening them so that they seemed to softly caress her own mouth. He felt her teeth within the small gap between her mandibles, and she accepted his odd action of affection. Samantha arrived just then, and she gasped in surprise and anger. The couple didn't seem to notice, so she backed away with fiery eyes, disgusted and perplexed at Nathan. Backing away, her back connected with the bare and toned chest of Rurik'jar. She whimpered when his long hands grabbed her naval area and brought her body closer to his own. His head came down and rested against the right side of her face. He then lustily whispered,

"What a _wicked _turn of events. How _unfathomable _for this _atrocity _to occur."

She trembled and small tears of heartbreak rolled down her cheeks. She then quietly cried out,

"Let me go you bastard."

The elite devilishly smiled and let go of his soon-to-be-mate. He brought a hand up to lightly caress her face, and she slapped it away. The two then backed up into a secluded corner, where large cargo boxes blocked the light, and Samantha succumbed to his open arms and threw caution to the wind.

Cassidy had returned from the bathroom and returned to her lonely spot where she and Nathan regularly took breaks, when she was suddenly pounced on by the jackal from earlier. Hand to her mouth, he embraced her for a few moments, and she relaxed. He was completely nude, and his height was making her feel feeble even though the physique was roughly the same. The jackal brought a hand to her breast and he groaned into her hair, closed mouth onto her hair. She moaned a bit, ashamed at the noise that escaped her mouth. She managed to fight him off, and began to quickly walk away from his hungry groping. His cock stirred when he pinned her to the floor, her reaction surprisingly tame. She quickly spat out reasons as to why this series of events were horrific, and then slithered out of her jumpsuit/uniform when he loosened his grip. She was only wearing her undergarments now, and with some care she unclasped her black bra and let it fall. Her C-cup breasts jiggled a bit as she bent down to pose for the jackal. It literally grabbed her breast with it's massive jaws and lightly bit into her, causing her to erotically wail. The teeth held her in place as his long tongue slipped and slid across her nipple, stimulating it. She managed to fall backwards and keep him at bay by keeping her foot on his belly, but the jackal came on her with strong arms and a stronger pelvis. He parted her legs and with his three fingers he grabbed and fondled her breasts gently, massaging them together or nipping at them. She looked to the jackal's genital region, and was surprised to see a sheath with a pink, barbed cock sliding out. When it was fully exposed, Cassidy gasped and imagined the stimulation those barbs were going to produce when he began to saw in and out of her.

"Oh no. That's not going in-"

But she was tossed around onto her knees and her ass rose in the air. Driven by lust she screamed,

"Stick it in me and fuck me, bird-brain!"

The jackal knelt down, licked her upper-spine all the way down to her crack, taking off her panties with his tongue and hands. She gripped her buttock with one hand and propped herself against the crates with another, and when the violent thrust rocked her body she let out a choking sound. The barbed prick drove it's fleshy thickness into her canal and managed to make her squeal and whimper loudly. After a long initial penetration, the jackal reared backwards and let his backwards pointed barbs rake her insides. She began to wildly grunt and rock her ass against the jackal's cock, and the alien smacked his nuts against her as his wild thrusting began. The barbs made her sensitive region sting and tingle with uncontrollable pleasure, and it wasn't long before the thrusts slowed so he could enjoy the feeling of her cunt.

"_OH_! _OH GOD_. Shit that hurts, _ARGH_."

Cassidy lurched forwards, her hands holding her up against the floor and her toes sliding against the floor. After some erotic time of thrusts and pulls, a solid knot of sorts squeezed in and anchored itself into her slick pussy. She gurgled and wept as her orgasm arrived in full force, lubricating the hard knot and shaft, it's pointy head spurting globby semen. The burning mass staying completely still in her pussy. His cock began to ejaculate semi-transparent globs of cum inside of her womb. The two laid there, his penis inching out of her every minute, his knot blocking any of their cum to leak out from her terrific pussy. She grasped for the jackal's strong thigh with fumbled hands and made him thrust into her one last time. It snorted and connected it's hairless waist to her body, causing spit to shoot out of her mouth, another orgasm overtaking her. His belly-button rubbed against her anus as he parted her cheeks, and his yellow-orange abdomen scraped against her lower back in a passionate rhythm, the slim muscles going against her sweaty skin.

"Oh god. _Ohhhhhh_." Cassidy quietly moaned.

The jackal's barbed penis and knot forced the two to doze off as their semen mixed together. Their breathing slowed and Cassidy cuddled up with her extraterrestrial lover, his arms hugging her close by sliding along her tight belly and plump breasts. Her legs came up and she felt exhausted, inside and out, and her eyes began to close as his massive jaw opened so his hot tongue could come out onto her face. He would occasionally twitch and she'd feel her womb flood with more hot ejaculation, and the feeling was so great that it drowned out the painful cock inside of her vaginal canal, the tingling sensation inside of her sprotuing more small orgasms, making ehr shiver in ecstasy.

…

Nathan had Eliz'z with her armor and skinsuit off in a matter of minutes after she experimentally reached down and straddled his inner thighs. He had propped her up against the wall and then fumbled to take his penis out from his trousers, fumbling with his zipper. Eliz'z had spread her legs and revealed a lightly grizzly vagina, her smooth ebony skin covering taut muscle. The pink ribbon of sensitive flesh was exposed to the air, and her clitoris was poking out above her mound. Nathan had been sucking on her dark nipples only moments before, trying to get any sound of surrender out of this tough female elite. She kept her mouth and eyes shut, squirming as the pleasure rocked her from his fingers invading her insides.

"This is insane...crazy, baby." Nathan implored. She agreed by nodding, her mouth opening a bit as a hot breath escaped, heating Nathan's neck.

He brought out his thick member, which was sticking straight up and pulsing with blood. Pushing upwards, he parted her folds and sighed as his purple head was met by her soft and wet sex. He lifted one of her legs, the hoof sliding against his own trouser sleeve. He was pushing up against her, dick rubbing against her wet walls. His orange eyes burned into hers', making her head arch back. Her mandibles opened up and a loud scream escaped her as he touched his cock head against her tender, warm nerve-cluster. Nathan had one hand on her firm bottom, and he began to massage it. Nathan then pushed upwards so hard she lost her footing and slid his dick into her more, her weight causing his knees to bend as both his hands came up to support her by the legs. Eyes wide, Nathan took advantage of her position and began to fuck her by grabbing her wrists, pulling her arms down so that she leaned against him, and slid himself into her faster and faster, his calves beginning to burn.

"_Aargh_. _Ughn_." she moaned every moment or so. Finally her eyes shot open and she began to tremble as her insides shot out a thick bodily fluid onto Nathan's cock. He went wild and grabbed her dark-black bottom with both hands, using his thrusts to keep her upright, letting her lean against the wall and enjoy his steady rhythm. Finally his balls tightened, his gut clenched, and his erection jetted out strings of sperm.

He stayed standing, letting his initial ejaculation jet pleasure drown away as the less pleasing remaining jets of sperm flew out. Her breasts were heaving and she had her arms on his shoulders, her ass on his nuts. After a few more minutes of relaxation, Nathan dropped to the ground and rested up, Eliz'z straddling his pecs while resting her body by laying down next to him. He used this oppurtunity to climb onto her, kissing her nipples once again, trailing his kisses up to her neck and face. Her eyes were narrowed and rolled upwards as his fingers inserted themselves into her pussy.

Again, he hardened at her noises and positioned himself against her slit. With a kiss on her collarbone, he gripped her shoulders and swiftly penetrated, her wet folds rubbing againt his head and shaft as they drove up into her cunt. She trembled and squeezed him to her, her long fingers holding onto his muscular bottom as his pelvis bucked back and forth, in and out of her Sangheili pussy. The friction was too much for her, and she came again. Nathan grunted into her saliva-covered breasts, the warm globes comforting his face. His shaft built up pressure and suddenly his cock head erupted semen. She cringed and curled her toes and feet as the human's constant punding became harder. He panted on top of her after the last of his semen was drained from his balls, and he fell off of her, resting against her side. Her nipples were hard, her mouth open, her chest and pelvis flushed, and her head racing. Nathan was incredibly satisfied, and he knew that this woman wasn't going to be completely satisfied yet. Wordlessly, he kissed her breasts again and licked his way down to her sex. Her hands rested on his hair as his tongue pushed into her, lapping at the fluids coming out of her hot pussy.

"_So_. _Filthy_." she sighed, inbetween gasps of pleasure. Nathan smiled to himself and dug his mouth onto and into her slit, his fingers groping her ample breasts and enjoying the feeling of his Sangheili mate.

…

"It's not going to happen. Sorry buddy." Samantha finally admitted. Her uniform was off and she was in her undergarments, Rurik'jar's bulky body leaning over her slim form. With her feet and hands, she was stimulating his Sangheili erection while he held himself up with strong arms and legs, his tongue sliding across Samantha's breasts, his teeth avoidng the soft skin of her cute breasts.

When he had revealed his erect member to her, she knew without a doubt that it would never fit inside of her. It looked like it was going to hurt, but she still wanted someone to drown her sorrow away.

"Lets just try it." Rurik'jar encouraged. The bulging veins on his cock were bumpy to her soft feet and fingers. His member had splotches of pink pigmentation on it, and his shiny black head was hungrily jabbed at Samantha's slightly bushy mound. She looked bored, yet solemn.

His dark-brown legs were bracing him up as she contorted her body to jack off his cock. Her toes gripped onto his girth while her hands reached fully around his thick cock and pulled his skin up and down. He was loving the feel of her small digits on his member, and after what seemed like ages of this act he smacked her arms and legs away in a lusty fury. She gasped in surprise, and put her hands to his chest to block his advance. She wasn't denying his sudden initiative, instead it was exciting her, and a secret part of her wanted his body-splitting erection driven into her awaiting cunt. His hands gripped her shoulders, his mouth came down to his chest, and he drove his hoofs into the floor as his cock descended to her small bush. She looked with nervous eyes to his shaft, and began to squeal when she felt her folds parted because of his massive head. Sighing in ecstasy, the elite major cautiously inched himself in, loving how her canal's walls were tugging and sucking at him as he moved forwards. She curled her toes and scratched his back, her body arching up. Samantha was experiencing a sort of effort justification, as she knew this challenge would somehow pay off in the end and be totally worth it, her stomach clenching and chest flush growing redder as her lover finally stopped pushing, afraid he would injure her.

Rurik'jar, thinking that he may harm his mate if he went any further, began to pull out in a slow fashion, savoring the feeling of her walls trying to suck him back in. Her walls had expanded to accommodate his girth, and Samantha was at a loss for words as he sawed himself out. She summoned enough strength to push away from him, much to his surprise, and she kicked him in the chest. Rurik'jar fell to the cold floor, his cock swinging upwards, an arcing stream of trasnparent precum flying up to land on Samantha's chin. He was marveled at how she wiped the stringy semen off and licked it off of her finger, before she crawled forwards and positioned her slit over his head.

"I think you'll kill me if you take the lead. Sorry." she mumbled, too focused on perfecting her body's position over his pelvic region. Her legs were on either side of his waist, and her hands were on his chest, which was rising and falling as his fast-beating heart sent blood pulsing all over his body.

Her hot insides wrapped themselves against half of his member, and after a struggling grunt she descended an inch lower, content with the feeling. A hand came down and gripped the remaining length of his cock, and she began to furiously stroke that one area while rising and falling on the rest. It seemed like the air was getting knocked out Rurik'jar's lungs, and his eyes closed in ecstasy as his human rode him. She put both hands to the small fuzz around his own genital slit, and slid her hand under the penis, feeling the flesh of his testicles inside of him. Smiling while also making an effort not to injure herself, she sped up her rhythm and humped his cock with increasing speed, her other hand coming right above her stretched slit to touch and rub her exposed clitoris. Rurik'jar's cock base began to build up pressure, and he raised his mate off of his erection as these incredible, viscous jets of cum erupted from his shiny head, painting Samantha's pelvic region up to her under-boob with a sensationally hot bodily fluid- him loudly groaning the entire three or four minutes. Her slimy hand came out of his slit, but not before she felt his testicles shrink back and tighten.

"Wo-ho-hoh!" Samantha gasped. Her lover seemed to be spent, recovering from the most intense ejaculation event in his life. Panting, she began to finger herself, trying to get off.

"Allow me." Rurik'jar spoke, between deep inhales. He lightly pulled away her fingers, and stuck two of his own long ones into her, reaching upwards and poking an insanely sensitive region inside Samantha.

She collapsed after a guttural moan, right onto his naval region. He put another hand to her head and held her close, feeling her writhe under his fingers as he quickly jabbed upwards and thrust his fingers into her. Finally she spat out a curse and squirted over his hand, a few more orgasms rocking her body as he kept stimulating her, letting her increasingly lubed hand slide up further into her. Climbing off of him she played with his cock and began to doze off as he rested, enjoying her actions and the pleasant silence of the hangar bay.

…

The first to head to the showers were Cassidy and Samantha, Nathan joining them after a little more fun-time with his mate. When Rurik'ja messaged captain Hartlow about how the crew had not properly cleansed themselves after two days aboard the _Levine_, only remaining in the hangar bay, the captain arranged an escort to lead the aliens to the shower rooms, allowing them privacy as the notable few washed off the sticky and smelly results of their quiet affairs, unknown to the others.


End file.
